Who is afraid of Jignesh Mevani?

Congress supported Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani’s arrest-bail-rearrest-bail again episode is a clear pointer to the lie of the land ahead of the Assembly elections in the state at the end of the year.

The legislator was picked up from Palanpur in Gujarat by Assam Police, flown to Assam for a tweet including a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  He was produced in a court in Kokrajhar, which granted him bail after he spent a few days in police custody. But just after the grant of bail,Mevani was arrested again for allegedly outraging the modesty of a police woman, who was in the police team , which took him from the airport to Kokrajhar. After again spending a couple of days in police custody, he was granted bail by the Sessions Judge of Barpeta. While granting Mevani bail on a personal bond of Rs. 1000, the Sessions Judge held the arrest to be a case of police high handedness.  On the Assam government’s appeal, the Guwahati High Court stayed the remarks against the police high handedness, while not interfering with the bail order.

The way in which the ruling dispensation headed by Narendra Modi has gone to put Jignesh Mevani out of action shows the extent to which it can go to crack down on political opponents.Mevani is an influential Dalit leader, who has the potential to play a decisive role in the Assembly elections in Gujarat due by the year end. The BJP is in no mood to tolerate elements capable of strengthening the main opposition, the Congress, at election time.

The episode also shows that the ruling dispensation, despite all its bravado, is not totally sure of its chances in Gujarat in the coming elections. Otherwise, it would not have adopted the extreme tactics to trouble Jignesh Mevani.Why is it so afraid of Jignesh Mevani?