“I am 2 per cent politician, 98 per cent activist,” Jignesh Mevani, social activist, said to a raptured audience who sat – and stood – around the venue at the Lit for Life festival 2018 in order to listen to him speak. The conversation focused on a range of topics, from different political/ identity ideologies (which he touted as “different -isms”), to concrete plans for development. "Cow is not holy to me; Have the cows, give us the land," Mr. Mewani said to a packed auditorium.
Mr. Mevani shared his election story with the audience, calling his late entry into the Gujarat electoral roll an “impractical decision.” Still, he added that the whole experience had been fabulous. “The kind of love and affection they showered on me was sublime.” He affirmed that he was committed to making the Vadgam model of development a significant marker of comparison, and for it to be developed collectively.
He also shared his frustration about Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the session, calling him a “grand failure” for not having delivered on the promises he had made. The focus would be on Vadgam’s development, he added, to later compare it to Vadnagar’s, in order to see where real growth occurred. "Modi roams around the world but can't come up with 10 good ideas for job creation. Not that I have 10 ideas, but he's the PM. He's incompetent. He can't deliver," he stated.
