Wednesday 28 September 2016
COUNTERVIEW: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, others detained in Ah...
COUNTERVIEW: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, others detained in Ah...: Jignesh Mevani By Our Representative Well-known Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, his colleague Hiten Makwana, who leads the safai ...
Thursday 22 September 2016
Mevani tweets Rupani
Urgent appeal to the entire nation -
Mevani tweets Rupani:
Tomorrow Vijay Rupani, Gujarat CM is hosting Twitter TownHall. On this occasion, I take this opportunity to ask a few pertinent questions to our beloved Chief Minister. I urge everybody to flood his twitter handle @vijayrupanibjp using hashtag #AskVijayRupani and ask the following ten questions:
1. What kind of politics is Modiiji doing from Delhi that Cow Vigilantes have gone berserk everywhere?
2, Despite of claim of 32 Million Crores investment in the State of Gujarat, more than 2 Lakh employees in Fixed Pay System are denied minimum wages. WHY?
3. Despite of budget of more than 90,000 Crores for Narmada Canal Network, many parts of Gujarat are still PYAASA. WHY?
4. BJP promised during the last assembly polls that they will build 50 Lakh households for commoners of Gujarat. Have you built even 1% of it?
5. Modiji is claiming, "Na me khata hun, na me khane deta hun". then why are there financial irregularities of more than 2 Lakh Crores as discovered by CAG?
6. Have you given even a penny as compenstaipn to families in which farmers have committed suicide?
7. Thousands of acres of land is allotted to Adani/Ambani/Essar. Then why not for SC/ST/OBC?
8. Why highest cases of assault and murders of RTI activists are registered in Gujarat which is claiming to be transparent?
9. Why 1000's of sanitation workers mostly Valmiki's are not given even minimum wages by Gujarat Govt?
10. In 2002, the debt was around 25000 Crores and 15/16, it has reached 1.85 Lakh Crores - What kind of model of governance is this?
Saturday 17 September 2016
COUNTERVIEW: Top Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani "picked up"...
COUNTERVIEW: Top Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani "picked up"...: By Our Representative Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Gandhinagar on Friday, the Gujarat capital, for “celebrating” his ...
Thursday 1 September 2016
Academic and activist: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani rises in Gujarat
Ram Parmar had no idea about the young man on the dais, but the daily-wage labourer was impressed by the speaker’s raspy voice. More importantly, the core subject was close to his heart: atrocities on Dalits.
Listening to that speech in his central Gujarat village on Friday, Parmar cheered every time there was a criticism of the government for continued attacks on his community. By when the crowd at the wedding hall in Dholka saw off the activist, Parmar had become his big-time fan.
Jignesh Mevani, a bespectacled lawyer, is earning admirers and followers in a big way across the western state. The 35-year-old resident of Ahmedabad is leading a foot-march to down-south Una, where cow protectors thrashed four Dalits last month.
A video of the July 11 flogging in the Saurashtra town spurred Mevani to organise a Dalit mahasabha (grand assembly) in the state capital. That 20,000-strong rally on July 31 saw Dalits taking a vow to discontinue with their age-old practice of removing cow carcasses and manual scavenging.
As the convener of the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti which is fighting against the July 11 incident in Gir Somnath district, Mevani has become a rallying point for those seeking renewed discourse on Dalit issues. The stubble-sporting leader might be from a middle-class family, but his ability to strike a chord with the poor in his community was evident in the mahasabha that was the biggest gathering for the cause of the Dalit community in Gujarat’s recent history.
“A majority of Dalit academics are not in touch with ground realities and current issues affecting the community,” he says. “Those who have a grasp on matters are not sufficiently articulate. I bring in a combination of an academic and an activist.”
Last month, Mevani’s forum, also consisting of four of his aides, held meetings and protests in several parts of the country. The encouraging response has emboldened the mission.
“The Una episode was stark. It came as a shocker for many,” he says, “I thought it was important to channelise that mood into something concrete.”
Today, as Mevani hops villages during his 11-day ‘Aazadi Kooch’ (March for Freedom), he avoids rhetoric—instead, talks matter-of-factly.
Across the 350-km padayatra that began on Friday and is slated to conclude on the Independence Day, the activist makes members of his community take a pledge to shun their traditional tasks. Mevani wants the government to provide them alternative livelihood options. At the end of every speech, he appeals to them to spread the message on social media.
“Slogans against upper castes and release of Dalit literature are important, but I wonder how far we can go with such activities. My samiti has come up with new, specific demands,” notes Mevani, clutching a cell-phone and catching up with the latest media updates on his campaign.
The march has sparked interest in political parties, but Mevani isn’t keen to capitalise on it. At a halt on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Friday, Congress workers greeted the protesters. Mevani and his associates asked the party supporters to join his movement as “individuals”.
“My work is apolitical. Period,” Mevani says.
Mevani enriched his oratory and organisational skills during his stint at the Jan Sangharch Manch, a civil society organisation founded in Ahmedabad by late lawyer Mukul Sinhahe also worked with the victims of 2002 Godhra riots and studied cases of extra-judicial killings in the state. He took keen interest in the issues of sanitation workers and trade union members.
As a lawyer, Mevani filed a PIL in the Gujarat High Court in 2011, claiming irregularities in land allotment to Dalits across the state.
The recent Una incident came a fresh trigger to his Dalit activism. “I realised the time had come to consolidate members of the community. The sheer barbarity of the crime punctured the myth that such atrocities were a thing of past,” he notes.
copy to http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/academic-and-activist-dalit-leader-jignesh-mevani-rises-in-gujarat/story-jjjouVJDwREtAXvxQCjJeK.html
Ex-journalist, lawyer, aspiring politician: Meet Jignesh Mevani, face of the Gujarat Dalit agitation
Since the emergence of Hardik Patel from among the Patidars and Alpesh Thakor from among the OBCs during movements in Gujarat over the last one year, the state’s Dalits have been feeling the need for a young leader of their own. And one activist has put his hand up to fill that void.Jignesh Mevani, 35, has been the face of protests by Dalits following the assault of Dalits in Una. An English literature graduate, former Gujarati journalist and serving lawyer, Mevani administered a pledge to the protesting crowds that their community will no longer do the “dirty jobs of society”.
Jignesh Mevani, 35, has been the face of protests by Dalits following the assault of Dalits in Una. An English literature graduate, former Gujarati journalist and serving lawyer, Mevani administered a pledge to the protesting crowds that their community will no longer do the “dirty jobs of society”.
Mevani agreed that he is consciously trying to fill what he calls an enormous vacuum of leadership among Dalits in Gujarat. He said he has the help of a team with members such as Kaushik Parmar, Subodh Parmar, Suresh Agja and Mahesh Parmar.“In the 1970s, a strongly radical Dalit group, Dalit Panther, came up in Gujarat. However, over the years, that organisation did not do enough to address various issues of the community,” he said. “I also feel the older generation of Dalit leaders has failed to transfer the leadership to the younger generation and because of that the struggle on economic issues has [suffered].”
“In the 1970s, a strongly radical Dalit group, Dalit Panther, came up in Gujarat. However, over the years, that organisation did not do enough to address various issues of the community,” he said. “I also feel the older generation of Dalit leaders has failed to transfer the leadership to the younger generation and because of that the struggle on economic issues has [suffered].”
About the current uprising, he said, “Such a spontaneous response from the community was not seen in Gujarat even in 2012 when three Dalit youths were shot dead in Thangadh of Surendranagar by police. What is more important is that even non-Dalits and Muslims are coming out proactively to support the community this time.”
Mevani is also a spokesperson for Aam Admi Party’s Gujarat unit and he makes no secret of his political ambitions. “Two hundred per cent, I have political ambitions. And my association with AAP is an extension of my activism [over Dalit issues].” Born in December 1980, Mevani hails from Mehsana district and lives in a Dalit-dominated locality of Meghaninagar in Ahmedabad. His father, Natubhai Mevani, is a retired clerk who worked with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
Born in December 1980, Mevani hails from Mehsana district and lives in a Dalit-dominated locality of Meghaninagar in Ahmedabad. His father, Natubhai Mevani, is a retired clerk who worked with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.Jignesh studied English literature at H K Arts College and journalism at Bhavan’s College, Ahmedabad, and worked in Mumbai for a Gujarati magazine and a Gujarati daily for around four years.
Jignesh studied English literature at H K Arts College and journalism at Bhavan’s College, Ahmedabad, and worked in Mumbai for a Gujarati magazine and a Gujarati daily for around four years.
As a student, he was influenced by educationist-columnist-activist Prof Sanjay Bhave and poet-theatre personality Prof Saumya Joshi. “It is due to people like Profs Bhave and Joshi that I came in touch with various Gujarati newsletters of civil society such as Nirikshak, Bhoomiputra and Naya Marg. I also got influenced by civil rights activists of Gujarat such as Girish Patel, late Chunibhai Vaidhya and late Ilaben Pathak,” Mevani said. However, he said, “during my stint in journalism, I realised that idealism and realism are two different things. And during this period, in 2008, I watched Rakesh Sharma’s Gujarati documentary Khedu Mora Re [about farmers’ suicides] following which I quit journalism and came to Gujarat.”
However, he said, “during my stint in journalism, I realised that idealism and realism are two different things. And during this period, in 2008, I watched Rakesh Sharma’s Gujarati documentary Khedu Mora Re [about farmers’ suicides] following which I quit journalism and came to Gujarat.”
So began his work as an activist. He met activist Bharatsinh Zala, visited various places to understand the issues leading to farmer suicides, and joined Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) of the late Mukul Sinha, trade unionist, activist and lawyer, to whom he attributes his understanding of Left ideology.
Subsequently, Mevani started taking up land issues of Dalits while also studying at D T Law College in Ahmedabad. He now practises at Gujarat High Court, where one of his pending petitions relates to allocation of government surplus land to landless Dalits under the Gujarat Agriculture Land Ceiling Act. “Today, only instances of violence against Dalits have become Dalit issues. I firmly believe that there should be protests on the economic front too,” Mevani said. “Also, Dalits should include all oppressed classes and I would like to bring all of them together.”
“Today, only instances of violence against Dalits have become Dalit issues. I firmly believe that there should be protests on the economic front too,” Mevani said. “Also, Dalits should include all oppressed classes and I would like to bring all of them together.”
Mevani also plans to publish a research work on Gujarati poet Mariz on the poet’s 101st anniversary next February.
copy to http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/gujarat-dalit-agitation-jignesh-mevani-dalits-incident-in-una-2960239/
Gujarat: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani quits AAP
Lawyer and activist Jignesh Mevani, 35, who led the Dalit movement to protest against the Una flogging incident, resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Saturday. He clarified that he had no intention to fight elections.
The AAP, he said, never tried to politically encash the Dalit movement. “I am one of the leaders, yet some jealous elements from the Dalit community and BJPworkers tried to create a wrong impression about me. So, to avoid any further gandagi (dirt) from such elements, I am resigning from AAP. This was and will remain the genuine Dalit struggle,” he said.
Mevani’s political affiliations had come in for criticism, threatening to split the movement, which has seen two major conventions since the Una flogging incident.
copy http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/gujarat-dalit-leader-jignesh-mevani-quits-aap-2988078/
Who is Jignesh Mevani and Can He Impact the UP Election Result?
“I’m very romantic, poetic, flamboyant,” that’s how 35-year-old Jignesh Mevani describes himself. The self-confessed guppe-baaz is the face of the new Dalit movement that’s swept Gujarat. He’s successfully channeled the outrage following the public flogging of Dalit tannery workers by gau rakashaks, into an organised movement for liberation from the caste system.
On 15 August, he called out – “You can keep the cow’s tail, but give us our land” and administered a vow to 20,000 supporters “never to enter sewers and not to skin dead cattle.”
Speaking to The Quint, Jignesh asks “has Modi not heard of what has happened in Una?”
The question is at the crux of his next campaign – sending post cards to the Prime Minister.
The statement Modi made – goli maarni hai toh mujhe maaro, daliton ko mat maro – Fact is, more than 14,000 cases of Dalit atrocities were recorded during his regime, but he never uttered a word. Even now, he’s said nothing about what happened in Una. He keeps tweeting about other nonsensical things, but has he not heard what’s happening in Una?
Jignesh Mevani, Convenor, Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti
Dalits to burn Manu Smriti outside High Court: Jignesh Mevani
Gujarat Dalit agitation leader Jignesh Mevani on Sunday said that Dalits will burn copies of Manu Smriti, the ancient legal text codifying the caste system, outside the Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court which has an idol of Manu on its premises.
“We have an ultra-liberal Constitution and protecting it is the duty of the courts. But having an idol of Manu on the premises of a High Court speaks volumes about our judiciary as the book stands for patriarchy and casteism,” Mevani toldThe Indian Express.
“Hence, we will burn copies of the text outside the gates of Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court,” said Mevani, who is also the convener of Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti. The Samiti was created following the public flogging of Dalits in Gujarat’s Una for allegedly skinning a dead cow.
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