Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani to contest Gujarat election from Vadgam as an independent

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani at a rally. (Picture: Twitter/@jigneshmevani80)

NEW DELHI: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani has announced that he will contest the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as an independent candidate from the Vadgam constituency.

The 36-year-old lawyer-activist is the head of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch and shot to prominence after the flogging incident in Una in July 2016. Four dalit men had been flogged on suspicion of having killed a cow.

Mevani made the announcement in a tweet on Monday morning. 

Friends, I m contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win.

— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) November 27, 2017

In a Facebook post, Mevani requested all political parties and independents not to field candidates in Vadgam. This way, he said, it would be him against the BJP candidate. "We need to expose the 22-year-old misrule of the BJP and hence should be a direct fight between me and the BJP," he said in his post.

The Gujarat Congress has responded by asking its sitting MLA, Manibhai Vaghela, to not contest from Vadgam "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani. "The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an independent, he will have Congress's support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

The BJP on Friday had named Vijaybhai Chakravarti as its candidate from Vadgam.

Amongst his early supporters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was quick to wish Mevani on Twitter.

Best wishes Jignesh https://t.co/y8jnU5HfUH

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 27, 2017

Earlier this month, Jignesh Mevani had a meeting with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat. After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 per cent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Jignesh Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18