‘Who is he?’ Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Jignesh Mevani’s arrest

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that he is unaware of the identity of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, hours after the latter was arrested.

Sarma questioned how he could hold a political vendetta against someone he is not aware of. “I don’t know. Who is he?” the CM said in his reaction to Mevani’s arrest.

“I am not aware of the specifics of the case. Who will do vendetta politics when I don’t know him? There will be enough evidence in Congress ruling states where things (tweets) have been taken seriously,” Sarma told the mediapersons on the arrest of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani.

Mevani claimed that he was arrested out of a political vendetta against him. Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was brought to Kokrajhar police station in Assam. Meanwhile, Advocate and General Secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee said, An FIR was registered against him for his tweet. We are moving his bail petition and we are hopeful that he will be out today.

“The Assam police arrested Jignesh Mevani, the MLA from Gujarat`s Vadgam, on Wednesday night, reportedly over a couple of his tweets. A police team from Assam took Mevani into custody at Palanpur Circuit House in Banaskantha around 11:30 pm on Wednesday night, as per Mevani`s team.

A case was lodged against Mevani under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.

A couple of tweets on Mevani’s Twitter handle are not visible on his feed with a message displaying that the tweets have been withheld in India based on a “legal demand”. “This Tweet from @jigneshmevani80 has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand,” reads the message on the Vadgam MLA`s Twitter.

Meanwhile, in a tweet by the Gujarat Congress today, it read, “Assam Police along with Gujarat Police is reported to have detained Gujarat MLA Mr Jignesh Mevani at 11:30 pm and taken him to Assam by train on April 21 from Ahmedabad at 4 am.

Treating a public servant as a criminal at night is condemnable. “Elected as an independent MLA, Mevani had extended his support to the Congress party in September 2019.