Dalit activist and lawyer Jignesh Mevani, who has been spearheading the Ambedkarite movement in Gujarat since the Una flogging of last year, was on Wednesday detained outside the state Secretariat for protesting against the latest spate of attacks on Dalit youth.

On Tuesday – just days after a young man was lynched allegedly by upper caste men in Gujarat for the crime of watching a garba performance – 17-year-old Digant Maheria was allegedly stabbed for sporting a moustache. The incidents followed more such cases reported earlier.

Soon after Tuesday’s violence, Mevani, convenor of the Rashtriya Dalit Adkhikar Manch, had threatened that Dalit anger could burn Gujarat and exhorted his supporters to stage a protest in Gandhinagar.

“It has become difficult for Dalits to live in Gujarat. It is time the home minister (Pradeepsinh Jadeja) resigns, else the anger of Dalits would burn Gujarat,” he said on a social media platform.

Outraged over the caste violence, Dalit youth from the state have put up pictures on social media sporting moustaches, with the title ‘Mr Dalit’ and hashtags such as #JativaadNaVirodhMa and #Samvidhaannasamarthanma.

Mevani had last month organised an Azaadi Kooch (march for freedom) from Mehsana to Dhanera in the state and has been championing the land rights movement for the community, which comprises about 7 per cent of Gujarat’s population.

According to reports, over 1,000 Dalits led by Mevani have pledged that “we will die the death of a dog but will not vote for the BJP in our life”.