Mevani goes all out in key Vadgam battle

VADGAM: It is 1.10pm and Congress candidate Jignesh Mevani is running an hour late on a blistering afternoon in Vadgam constituency in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.

- Chetan Chauhan [e-mail]

 A loudspeaker atop a jeep announces his arrival. Clad in a grey kurta and white pyjama, Mevani descends from an SUV, looking visibly tired. With hands folded, he moves towards some chairs under a banana tree, asking people to come and sit on a green tarpaulin sheet, where some people are already sitting with three clear divisions. The first section is for upper caste men, the second for upper caste women and the third for lower-caste people.

Speaking in Gujarati, the Dalit leader attacks inflation and blames the BJP. In the same vein, he speaks about high fuel prices and cooking gas cylinder costs, saying that while the cost of living has gone up, incomes have stagnated. The 42-year-old firebrand leader, who aims to retain Vadgam, recalls the dams built and the development done by Congress governments in the past to counter the BJP campaign that the party did nothing. The BJP provides no justice to the poor and has done nothing for them in the past 27 years. In Morbi, 135 died in the bridge collapse and no case was registered against the rich person responsible for the tragedy.”