Gujarat’s Dalit activist and community leader Jignesh Mevani met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday and claimed that the party had assured him of including "more than 90 per cent" of his demands in its Assembly election manifesto.
After the meeting with Mr. Gandhi in presence of Congress leader Ashok Gehlot and State party chief Bharatsinh Solanki, Mr. Mevani almost declared open support to Congress by saying he would ask his supporters to vote against BJP.
“We listen to everyone and work after hearing their problems: be it Jignesh, Hardik or Alpesh. We will all defeat BJP and provide the government which will work for the people of Gujarat,” Mr Gandhi told media persons after the meeting.
Both leaders had a half-an-hour long closed-door meeting at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Navsari in South Gujarat where the Congress leader is on campaign tour leading the Congress party’s Navsarjan Yatra.
Mr. Mevani, a Dalit rights campaigner who shot to fame after the Una Dalit flogging incident last year, has been mobilising the Dalit community against the BJP government, which he dubbed as "anti-Dalit".
“Since the Una incident, we have launched many agitations and campaigns and submitted memorandums to various authorities. But despite this, the thick-skinned BJP government has not considered even one demand of our community. They have not even bothered to talk to us about our demands and issues” Mr Mevani told reporters after the meeting.
He added that Mr Gandhi has assured that all demands would be included in the Congress party’s election manifesto.
