Ahmedabad, Oct 17 (PTI) Outfits representing Scheduled Castes on Thursday threatened to campaign against the BJP in the Maharashtra assembly polls if Gujarat IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian does not tender an apology for “insulting” Dalit leader and Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani.
Gujarat coordinator of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, Subodh Kumud, sough an apology from the senior police officer in the next 24 hours and accused the BJP government in the state of being insensitive towards SCs and issues faced by them.
Addressing a press conference here, Kumud said leaders from Scheduled Caste communities will meet Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel next week and seek action against Pandian, currently serving as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) at the state SC/ST Cell.
On October 15, Mevani, who is also the Gujarat Congress working president, had an altercation with Pandian when the legislator went to meet the senior IPS officer in Gandhinagar to submit a representation about some issues concerning Dalits in the BJP-ruled state.
Following the incident, the opposition MLA from the Vadgam (SC) seat in Banaskantha district, had sought action against Pandian for “breach of privilege”, claiming the latter behaved in a “rude and arrogant manner” when he went to the top cop’s office for a meeting.
“Mevani wanted to meet Pandian over the issue of illegal encroachment of anti-social elements on nearly 3,000 acres of land allotted to Dalits during the Congress regime for agriculture. Instead of listening to him, Pandian misbehaved with the MLA. Police are shielding anti-social elements by not listening to Dalit leaders and even insulting them,” alleged the outfit’s coordinator Kumud.
“If Pandian does not apologise to 50 lakh Dalits of Gujarat, people associated with Dalit groups in the state will go to Maharashtra and campaign against BJP and its government, which is trying to shield Pandian. We will tell the people of Maharashtra (where voting will take place on November 20) how insensitive the BJP government and its police is towards Dalits,” he said.
Dalits will also try to defeat the BJP candidate in the upcoming by-election to the Vav assembly constituency in Banaskantha district, where voting will be held on November 13, if Pandian does not tender an apology, Kumud maintained.
Other Dalit outfits which have joined hands for this cause include the Yuva Bhim Sena, Bhim Army and Samvidhan Bachao Samiti of Vadodara, he added.
Following his altercation with Pandian over the issue of keeping mobile phones outside the cabin, Mevani on October 15 handed over a letter to assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary and alleged the IPS officer insulted him when he went to meet him in his office in Gandhinagar earlier that day.
Soon after entering his cabin, Pandian allegedly asked Mevani and another Dalit leader Hitendra Pithadiya, who is Gujarat Congress’s SC department chairman, to keep their mobile phones outside the chamber.
Miffed over the IPS officer’s directive, the Congress MLA sought to know the rules or law under which Pandian was asking them to keep their cell phones outside the chamber.
“Pandian got agitated and asked his staff to take the mobile phones claiming they (Mevani and Pithadiya) might be recording the conversation using their phones. I told him we are ready to keep our mobile phones outside, but such behaviour with an MLA is not appropriate,” Mevani stated in his letter to the speaker.
Despite reminding him about protocols in place, Pandian allegedly insulted both the Congress leaders in the presence of his staff, the legislator alleged.
“He even commented on my attire, saying ‘Why are you wearing a T-shirt despite being an MLA?’,” claimed Mevani.
The speaker’s office has not yet issued any statement over the opposition MLA’s letter. PTI COR PJT PD RSY
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