Jignesh Mevani was granted bail today in a case of alleged assault
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani today alleged the ruling BJP by "using a woman" to "frame a case" against him has done a "cowardly thing". The comments came hours after Mr Mevani was granted bail by a court in Assam in a case of alleged assault on a woman constable of the Assam Police.
"I will not bow down (jhukega nahi)," Mr Mevani told NDTV, alluding to the movie Pushpa.
Mr Mevani was arrested in the alleged assault case on April 25 just after he was granted bail by another court in Assam in a case over tweets on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"My arrest was not a simple matter. It must have been done under the instruction of political bosses at the PMO (Prime Minister's Office)," Mr Mevani told NDTV today.
"I am still proud of the tweet I did. In the tweet, I basically asked the Prime Minister to maintain peace and harmony as communal classes happened...As a citizen of India, I have my rights to ask this. As a lawmaker what's our duty? It is to urge people to maintain peace, so that's what I did," Mr Mevani said.
"And in the second case, they cooked up a story to frame a case by using a woman. The government is such a coward that it used a woman against me. Such a coward act it is," the Gujarat MLA said, adding the ruling BJP is doing all this with an eye on the Gujarat election, which will be held later this year.
"This is a conspiracy. This did not go well among Dalits, among people of Gujarat. They are watching it. They (BJP) will pay for it...Both the cases against me are false and frivolous," Mr Mevani said.
"The timing of the case also speaks everything. There are elections coming in Gujrat, so I am being targeted. The people have understood this ploy. The moment I was picked up in Gujrat, I knew they were planning to trap me in different cases. The targeting of an MLA from Gujarat in Assam was part of a big plot," Mr Mevani said. "They file cases against anyone who questions them, anyone who speaks for truth...The way the people of Assam and the Congress supported me was of great help."