Interview | Good Chance the BJP Won’t Form the Government Again: Jignesh Mevani

With only a few months to go before general elections, civil society groups, students, rights activists and a variety of other groups, including ex-servicemen, have announced a week-long protest in the capital from January 30 to February 7. They hope that the #IndiaUnites campaign will help amplify the most critical issues facing Indians right now.

The Wire Marathi caught up with one of the campaign’s main faces, Jignesh Mevani, on a visit to Pune. In this interview, the independent Gujarat MLA and national level opposition leader talks about the government’s suppression of dissenting voices, the upcoming general elections, the feasibility of a grand alliance to take on the BJP, and more.

Edited excerpts:

A lot has changed in the last one year since you were here for the Elgaar Parishad (conference). Activists like Anand Teltumbde have been targeted and are appealing for support, many of them are  demanding relief from court. How do you look at these developments?

What Anand Teltumbde is facing is disastrous, horrible and most shocking and unfortunate. If that (his arrest) happens, then I will pity Indian democracy. He is a man of incredible scholarship and has been a fabulous public intellectual. All his life he has been concerned about the poorest of the poor. This is vendetta politics on the part of the government against a person who has been anti-establishment all his life.

Since Modi came to power, Teltumbde has taken on the Brahminical forces like anything. Maybe that is the reason we don’t find his column in the Economic and Political Weekly anymore, that is the reason why he is facing arrest.

But what do you think has happened? Is it just an attempt to suppress a critical voice or anything beyond that?

Whenever Modi has faced a threat to his position, he has attempted to gain sympathy. And he keeps creating new stories like someone is attempting to kill me. By accusing the activists of attempting to   kill Modi, he is trying to gain sympathy while also targeting the anti-establishment people who are fighting against the RSS.

This will automatically create fear in the mind of people. This conspiracy has been brought in place to achieve all of this.

The narrative of the Pune Police seems to be changing. First, they said the Elgaar case is not related to the riots, whereas now it is being claimed to be the reason for the riots. What do you think is leading to this? 

If we go strictly by the law, then for the filing of false and frivolous FIRs against Anand Teltumbde and me – we both belong to the Scheduled Caste – there can actually be a registration of offence against the Pune Police under various sections of atrocity.

But Teltumbde has taken the legal recourse.

Also read: Police Action Against Anand Teltumbde Is Further Proof of Modi Govt’s Arrogance

He has gone to the apex court but there he could not get any relief. And there is absolutely no evidence against him. But let me tell you, if anything happens to Anand and any Dalit from hereon, the BJP is going to pay a heavy price – in 2019 and in Maharashtra elections in the coming years.

And if this happens, then I am stating this clearly and openly that in this 130-crore population, Jignesh Mevani will be the number one enemy of RSS and BJP.

Is the filing of a chargesheet against Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar in the JNU case a part of the same attempt?

Yes. Umar brilliantly tweeted that the chargesheet, which is to be filed 90 days after the registration of offence, is getting filed 90 days before the general elections instead, and that tells everything. Worst is that people attacked Kanhaiya Kumar in court premises, which is a cognisable offence. Also, as per the apex court judgment, upon the disclosure of offence, the registration of FIR is a must. There is no offence since there is no FIR in this case.

Kanhaiya Kumar is facing a chargesheet for a case in which there is no evidence. I’ve known both of them for the almost three years, since the Una incident. Every time I meet them, they talk about constitutional values, the plight of the poor and farmers’ issues. This is the thing we debate and discuss and talk about.

So it has been the feature of fascism that they (the BJP) always try to create an artificial enemy, they fabricate things and as per design, this is happening. But the more they target the young, the more the situation is going to become unfavourable for the BJP.

You mentioned Una. There has been criticism that you have abandoned the victims of Una and that you were an opportunist.

I am all for Una victims. I raised their questions in the assembly. Tomorrow, if they want any agitation on the streets seeking justice, I am all for it. Now it is not the duty of Jignesh Mevani, it is the duty of the state of Gujarat to fulfil the promises – which as the then chief minister of the state, Anandiben Patel made.

They went to the village when the incident happened. Promised them that we will give you five acres of land, government jobs and develop the village. These promises were also published in Gujarat Information – which is a fortnightly of the Gujarat government.

Now, it has been three years but none of these promises has been fulfilled. Now, is it Jignesh Mevani’s responsibility or the government’s? On what basis are they claiming that I am not inquiring into the condition of these victims? They should, in fact, take credit by giving justice to the Una victims.

There should be a court case where all the witnesses are presented and protected, and all the promises should also be fulfilled.

Also read: My Impressions of the Sedition-Accused Students of JNU

On one hand, talks of a grand alliance are on, and on the other, there is a demand for uniting all the Dalit organisations.

As we get closer to the 2019 elections, more and more political parties are coming together. In Kolkata, 22 parties came together. The BJP had to react, they had to take out a press conference about what we were doing. And the SP-BSP alliance will wipe out the BJP in UP even if the Congress is not a part of it.

If Congress does become a part of the alliance, the BJP will not be able to go beyond 15 in UP. And as per Yogendra Yadav’s analysis, under any circumstances, the BJP is not crossing 35 in the state – which means that they are losing 40 seats.

In West Bengal, they are going to be wiped out. I think they will barely win 1-2 seats there. Gujarat, Rajasthan and MP they are losing 30 seats. In Haryana, Punjab and Chhattisgarh too they are losing 20-25 seats. None of their candidates are winning in south India.

So there is a good chance that the BJP will not form government again and Modiji is not coming back as prime minister.

But the BJP is claiming that they are taking pro-citizen decisions by taking steps like reservations for the ‘economically weaker sections’ from the so-called ‘general category’ (i.e. upper castes and minorities), and all other parties have supported it.

This is a lollipop. This is an attempt at appeasement of non-Dalit, non-tribal and non-OBCs before the general elections. But nothing is going to come out of it. Modi is very much aware of the fact that it cannot stand constitutionally. And it has been challenged in the apex court. It has been challenged on more than one occasion and the apex court has ruled it out earlier. This time too there is a chance that it will not sustain.

But the BJP is doing it just to give an impression that they have done something for the so-called upper caste people, that they tried this and it couldn’t sustain in the apex court.

Also, there is serious apprehension on my part that this could be the first step towards distorting the constitution. Reservation is given on account of social exclusion, it is not a ‘garibi door karne ka karyakram’ (attempt to eradicate poverty). From the undercurrents that I can see, the Dalits and OBCs are both offended but they are not able to tackle it right now. They don’t know what to do.

Also read: Reservation and Narendra Modi: Here Comes Our Very Own Mr Ten Percent

But you have joined hands with Hardik Patel, who is demanding reservations for Patidar whereas you are against it.

Even if we disagree on one account there is more than one ground to keep us together, hence we are together.

Do you think it is feasible for the grand alliance to take on the BJP at this moment? All these parties have traditionally been opponents of each other.

But now everyone knows that the way Lalu Prasad Yadav was arrested, pressure has been built on Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav and the way TDP was threatened, the way Justice Loya was murdered, the way attempts were made to remove the names of 43 accused from the Gauri Lankesh murder case, everyone knows what the fear is.

Everyone knows that these people are nasty and they can go to any extent so they have come to the ground now.

But how will it be taken forward. because there is a criticism that the grand alliance has formed with a sole aim of challenging BJP and all these parties cannot even come up with a common minimum programme for the benefit of the citizens. On the day when there would’ve been a committee formed for the preparation of manifesto, the committee for EVM is getting formed and they don’t even have a face to portray against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It is the BJP and RSS people who are saying that Gadkari is an alternative to Modi! But on a serious note, each and every component of the grand alliance must come out with a proactive agenda before the 2019 election. That I totally agree with.

But do you think it will be possible, considering the ideologies with which they function?

Common minimum programmes can be chalked out. For example, increase the education budget to 10% or increase the budget for health services. This can be done.

You mentioned the Supreme Court decisions as well. How do you analyse the decisions taken from Judge Loya to Teltumbde?

This only gives us the message that under all circumstances, this RSS-BJP fascist regime should be kept away from power. And along with that, we have to keep putting pressure on the so-called components of the grand alliance to come up with a defining blueprint of the common minimum programme benefitting the broad masses of people

Your movements in Gujarat had emphasised the entitlement of land for Dalits. But the members of the grand alliance are involved in rampant land acquisition for big business and not land distribution for Dalits and the poor.

From Una till date we have been able to ensure the possession of four thousand acres of land. And this is happening in the state. Land to the tillers has become ‘land to the tycoons’. But as far as the allies are concerned, once they come to power they will be facing criticism from us on this. But let us first defeat the BJP.

Last question, is Rahul Gandhi going to be the face of the grand alliance?

It is better if you ask him this question.