Jignesh Mevani threatened for supporting Dalit groups

Dalit leader and Independent MLA from Vadgam, Jignesh Mevani, said on Thursday that he has been getting death threats from a man for supporting the downtrodden community. The man claims to belong to an upper-caste.

Mevani said the threats were made to his old phone number, which is currently being used by his personal assistant, Satish Vansola. Vansola said that he received a call at 7 pm on Wednesday from one Virendrasinh, a native of Shankheshwar near Patan. He recorded the conversation and a two-minute audio excerpt of it went viral on social media after Mevani and his supporters forwarded it.

The call was supposedly in response to Mevani's media statement on Wednesday morning, against the murder of a Dalit youth in Mandal village by his upper-caste in-laws.

"The man began abusing me and said 'You Dalits don't have the right to love anyone," said Vansola, "'Make that clear to your leader. If he doesn't stop his drama, we will ensure that you Dalits are thrown out of Gujarat with him. Don't you remember the Bhuj incident where many Dalits were killed? We will repeat it if this doesn't stop'." The man said he was from the Darbar community in Shankheshwar.