Days after Gujarat Congress leader Jignesh Mevani was sentenced to 3-month jail over 2017 Mehsana rally, party's former president Rahul Gandhi said that Mevani won't be affected even if he is jailed for 10 years.
Launching his party's campaign for this year's Gujarat Assembly elections at an "adivasi satyagrah rally' in tribal Dahod district, Rahul said, "Gujarat is the only state where we need to have permission to protest."
"Jignesh Mevani was jailed for 3 months for the same and I would like to say that even if he's jailed for 10 yrs, it won't affect him," the Congress leader added.
"Gujarat is the only state where we need to have permission to protest. Jignesh Mevani was jailed for 3 months for the same. I would like to say that even if he's jailed for 10 yrs, it won't affect him," Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Gujarat court had on May 5 has sentenced Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and 12 others to three months imprisonment and a fine under section 143 Indian Penal Code (IPC) over a 2017 case of carrying out Azadi march without permission.
MLA Jignesh Mevani, Reshma Patel, Kaushik Parmar of National Dalit Adhikar Manch, Kaushik Parmar, Subodh Parmar including 10 others have been sentenced to three months imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1000. Out of the total 12 accused, 1 accused has died and the other accused is a fugitive.
Further, Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of creating two Indias, one for the rich and another for the poor, and claimed that the resources of the country are being given to a few wealthy people.
"In 2014, Narendra Modi ji became the prime minister of India. Before that he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The work he started in Gujarat, he is doing in the country. It is called the Gujarat Model," Gandhi said.
"Today, two Indias are being created, one India of the rich, a few select people, billionaires and bureaucrats who have power and money. The second India is of the common people," he said.
"In the BJP model, resources of people like water, forest and land which belong to tribals and other poor people, are being given to a few," he said.
The Congress leader also said that the BJP-led government in the state had deprived tribals of their rights.
"The BJP government will not give you anything, but take away everything from you. You (tribals) have to snatch your rights and then only you will get what is yours," he said.
The Congress leader also slammed Modi over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
