Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday, and said that the Congress was ready to accept 90 per cent of their 17 demands. The meeting comes a day after Mewani ruled out joining the Congress, a claim he reiterated after meeting Gandhi.
The firebrand Dalit leader met Rahul Gandhi at Italwa village of Navsari in south Gujarat on Friday, the third and final day of the latter's south Gujarat tour. Congress sources said that the two discussed a host of issues related to the Dalit community during their roughly 25-minute meeting. In the meeting, the Congress leader told Mevani that his party believes in taking everyone together, and assured him to work for the benefit of all communities.
Mevani, who shot to fame after last year's Una Dalit flogging incident, later described the meeting as positive.
"The Congress has given us assurance on majority of the 17 demands that we have made for Dalits. It has promised to fulfill 90 per cent of our demands," Mevani told reporters after the meeting.
He also said that he would meet Rahul Gandhi once more in the coming days for further discussion on the demands. However, he stressed that he would not be joining the Congress or any other political party, or contest the upcoming polls, and dubbed the BJP as 'anti-Dalit'.
Among the demands made by Mevani include allotment of a five-acre farmland to each Dalit family, alternative employment for those involved in skinning of cattle and manual scavenging, and release of a probe report into the firing on community members at Thangadh.
The other demands include fulfilling promises made to victims of Una violence, and ensuring benefits of schemes for SCs / STs to community members.
TOP DEMANDS
- Mevani’s demands include allotment of a five-acre farmland to each Dalit family.
- He has also sought a probe report into the firing on community members at Thangadh.
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