Gandhinagar, Oct 13 (IANS) Two FIRs have been registered against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani within 24 hours over alleged confrontations with police during campaigning for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, prompting the legislator to accuse the BJP-led Gujarat government of targeting him for raising allegations of a Rs 150-crore land scam involving the Thakor community.
In a video statement issued on Monday, Mevani alleged that no criminal case had been registered against a BJP leader who had allegedly used obscene and abusive language against his mother and sister, while two FIRs had been filed against him in the preceding 24 hours.
“For the past week, I have been speaking against a government broker who allegedly grabbed land worth Rs 150 crore belonging to the Thakor community. Since then, he has been so rattled that, instead of registering a criminal case against the BJP leader who used obscene and filthy abuses against my mother and sister, two FIRs have been registered against me in the last 24 hours,” Mevani said in the video.
Invoking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of cases filed against opposition leaders, Mevani said: “As Rahul-ji says, every FIR against us is a medal. These FIRs, too, are medals for me.”
He also challenged the authorities to take action against BJP leaders, asking whether they had ever registered an FIR against a BJP minister, MLA or MP.
Accusing the authorities of acting selectively, the Congress leader said: “He was not afraid of the police or the government and would continue to fight”.
Mevani warned that he would intervene if Congress workers or members of the public were unlawfully taken to police stations.
“If the police target any Congress worker in this manner, or unlawfully take anyone from Gujarat’s 6.5 crore people to a police station, I will go to get them released. I will fight. They can register as many FIRs against me as they want,” he said.
The two cases stem from separate incidents on October 8, two days before polling for the GMC elections, at Pethapur police station and the Sector-7 police outpost.
In the first case, registered at Pethapur police station, Mevani and seven others were booked for allegedly obstructing police personnel, creating a commotion and interfering with the recording of a Congress candidate’s statement.
According to the complaint filed by Police Inspector A.M. Desai, Congress candidate Yunus Parmar, contesting from Ward 4, had been summoned for questioning following a complaint that he and his associates had threatened BJP campaigner Bhavesh Bhavsar at Sanjari Park in Pethapur around 10 p.m. on October 8.
The complaint alleged that Mevani and his supporters entered the police station while Parmar was being questioned, obstructed the inspector from performing his duties and prevented the candidate’s statement from being recorded.
They allegedly used abusive language and later raised slogans outside the police station referring to the Thakor community.
The complaint also alleged that footage of the incident was recorded and circulated on social media, potentially aggravating tensions between communities.
Police further alleged that Mevani continued campaigning after the prescribed campaign period had ended.
The second FIR, registered at Sector-7 police station, relates to an alleged confrontation at the Sector-13 police outpost. According to reports, Munaf Pathan, a supporter of Parmar, was accused of threatening Nilesh Vishnu Panchal, who was campaigning for another candidate.
Panchal alleged that Pathan warned him against campaigning in the area. Pathan was subsequently taken to the outpost for questioning.
Police alleged that Mevani and a group of supporters arrived there, questioned officers about Pathan’s detention, created a commotion and obstructed police personnel from discharging their official duties.
The complaint further alleged that Pathan was forcibly taken out of the outpost while questioning was underway.
The second case names Mevani, a person identified as Rathod, Memon and around seven unidentified people, according to reports.
The FIRs come amid heightened political activity surrounding the Gandhinagar civic elections, for which polling was held on Sunday across 11 wards comprising 44 seats.
–IANS
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