Guwahati: The Assam Congress has slammed the state police for arresting Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani on Wednesday night, allegedly on the basis of a complaint from a BJP leader in the state’s Kokrajhar district over now-deleted comments criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mevani was apprehended at a Palanpur Circuit House around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday and taken to Ahmedabad, from where he was flown to Assam.
He was charged with criminal conspiracy, encouraging hostility between communities, intentional insult with the goal to create a breach of peace, and sections of the Information Technology Act, according to police in Kokrajhar.
“Do Assam Police have no work?” asked Debabrata Saikia, legislative party leader and Leader of Opposition parties for the Assam Congress
The state is reeling from crimes against women, dead bodies are being found in Guwahati city on a daily basis, and they flew to Gujrat to arrest Mevani over a tweet? This is both ironic and repulsive.”
Saikia claimed that Mevani’s remark, which was later removed by Twitter, condemned the BJP for backing Nathuran Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, and asked the Prime Minister to call for peace in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, Assam’s chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has denied knowing who Jignesh Mevani is. When asked about his reaction to the arrest, he asked, “Who is he?”
The Assam Congress, on the other hand, has warned to protest the state if Mevani is not released on bail within 48 hours.