On December 19, around 2,000 supporters thronged the narrow lane of Rameshwaram temple in Ahmedabad to welcome Dalit rights activist Jignesh Mevani. Now MLA from Vadgam. It was 11 at night.

The next morning, he was “the news” for a particular “nationalist channel”. In his natural aggressive tone, Mevani said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become irrelevant and must retire to the Himalayas.

This was barely 48 hours after the BJP managed to retain power in Gujarat and Mevani himself was elected as an independent legislator. He refused to apologise for his comment, and rather maintained that when it comes to “Narendra Modi” he won’t deter from making political or personal attacks.

“My attacks on the PM are personal because his personality is filthy,” Mevani told Newslaundry. “It should not be interpreted as hatred as I stand against his policies. He had literally sold Gujarat. Ever since Modi took charge as Gujarat chief minister, I have been against him.”

That is Jignesh Mevani for you. At times he can turn into a loose cannon but will do so for his own political reasons.

However, unlike seasoned politicians, Mevani has no qualms in accepting his mistakes or taking feedback – unless the matter is about his ideological stand.

The 2017 Assembly polls in Gujarat will go down in history as the one where even the top brass of national parties didn’t refrain from sullying each other’s image. In the battle for Modi’s home turf, three young leaders – the Patidar community’s Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Mevani – together punctured the “Gujarat model”. Mevani, the face of the Dalit movement in Una, has been the most vocal critic of Modi’s model of development in the state.

Interestingly, Mevani, who is yet to taste failure as an activist and politician, had flunked twice in Class 12. He later changed his stream from science to arts. After earning a graduation degree in English literature in 2003, he studied for a diploma in journalism.

One may wonder about the reason behind the 37-year-old’s calm posture during TV interviews and debates. Well, between 2004 and 2007, Mevani worked as a journalist with the Mumbai-based publication Abhiyaan. “My last drawn salary was Rs 15,000 in August 2007,” he said. From here, his effort to become an activist started.

His initial days of activism started with trade union wings. Mevani later worked under the late human rights activist Mukul Sinha and become part of Sinha’s Jan Sangarsh Manch. It was under Sinha’s influence that he studied for an LLB in order to assist those in need. And this is the reason why he still says that the Left “is my most natural ally. They have adopted me whole-heartedly”. When asked about his ideological leaning, Mevani said, “I am a Left-liberal Ambedkarite.”

He rejects those who question his credentials as an Ambedkarite. However, with a smile on his face, Mevani says it’s fine if his critics don’t find him communist enough. “Communist banana ke liye jo chetna chahiye, woh abhi nahin aayi mere andar (I am yet to attain that understanding to be called a communist),” he said.

“Many Leftists have failed to catch the imagination of the people to become electorally relevant. I was able to do that,” he added.

Mevani’s room is full of book racks. Along with the Constitution and law books, one also finds Wendy Doniger’s On Hinduism, The Indian Middle Class, Sharad Patil’s Caste Feudal Servitude and books on Osho.

Until the Una movement, Mevani was known for the fight he led for an increment in the salary of sanitation workers and for filing the PIL in 2015 for allocation of 56,873-acres to the landless Dalits of Gujarat.

Mevani addresses supporters and neighbours after his win.

Mevani’s support base of Dalits and workers’ groups come from these movements he led in his initial days. In August 2016, in the wake of the Una flogging incident, he shook the country with the ferocious Dalit rights movement in Gujarat. Despite efforts to overlook his “Dalit Asmita Yatra”, the news of hundreds of Dalits joining the 400-km march and being attacked by non-Dalit groups kept surfacing through alternative media platforms and on social media.

Since then, Mevani became a headache for the incumbent BJP government in the state. For months after the Dalit movement, PM Modi’s visits to the state would mean Mevani getting detained. “My son has become a legislator, he should be safe now,” his mother Chandraben told Newslaundry.

Having an activist son comes with costs. Every time Mevani is detained, even though the family has got used to it now, Chandraben doesn’t touch food until he returns. His father Natwarlal Parmar, 63, asked: “What wrong has my son done? I wondered every time Jignesh was detained why they (government) are so afraid of him. Is he carrying an AK-47 or something threatening?” 

It is Mevani’s movement and ideology which have given the BJP sleepless nights, he added. Even though they worry for his safety, the family has never received any threats from anyone either because of Mevani’s politics or activism.

Interestingly, Mevani’s own family has been a beneficiary of the provisions enshrined in the Constitution. While his mother is a serving government employee, his father Parmar has retired from government service. His younger brother Darshan too works at a government office. The family owns a two-storey tenement in Meghaninagar locality of Ahmedabad. A new Honda Amaze car, which Darshan bought last year, is parked inside.

“From the very beginning, he had a clear view of what he wanted to do,” Darshan said. He added that even though he and others like him want to join Mevani’s movement, “har kisi ki koi na koi majboori hoti hai. (All of us have some responsibilities/obligations to take care of).”

Darshan is married and has a daughter, while Mevani is single – probably these are the responsibilities he was referring to.

But certainly, those like Darshan did assist him in his activism days. “I have relied on 10-15 friends of mine for my monthly expenses. They have been providing me Rs 1,000-1,500 so that I can carry on full-time activism,” Mevani told this correspondent.

In the run for the Vadgam constituency of Banaskantha district, it was a team of such 100-150 friends, some supporters from Ahmedabad and the rest from Gujarat and different universities of the country, who campaigned for him.

A mix of Dalit rights and RTI activists, the students would strategise at One Ten Hotel located in Chappi village on Palanpur highway. The motel was turned into an election office and the two rooms booked, for Rs 750 each, served as a house for Mevani and his close aides.    

Money was arranged through crowdfunding – for instance, author Arundhati Roy contributed Rs 3 lakh.

The Dalit leader’s close aide told Newslaundry: “We were surprised with the response that we got in villages. We would only announce our day-to-day plans, and arrangements for a sound system and stage were made by villagers on their own.”

Sources said nearly Rs 22 lakh was spent on the campaign. Team Jignesh covered around 140 villages of the constituency while his father alone covered at least 40. All this was done in barely 15 days. In Vadgam, despite it being a Congress stronghold and a Muslim-Dalit dominated Assembly seat, Mevani’s team faced a tough battle.

Days before the results were declared, in conversation with Newslaundry, Mevani himself had speculated that he would win the poll by a small margin of 5,000 votes – or could even lose. 

A friend and campaigner of Mevani said that because of the opposition’s campaign, a perception was created that the Dalit leader would witch-hunt the upper-castes if he won the polls. News reports alleging his “terror links” were also aired during campaigning. Because of such reports, there was a risk that voters may see Mevani as an anti-Hindu candidate.

Mevani asks why the BJP’s top brass, including PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah, came to campaign against an independent candidate. Similarly, they feared that a Congress rebel candidate, Ashvinbhai Dolatbhai Parmar, could draw a large chunk of voters – as his father was a former Congress legislator.

“The Congress leadership had made it clear that they are supporting Jignesh, however, the party’s workers didn’t campaign for us for long,” Mevani’s childhood friend said.

Interestingly, a senior Gujarat activist who was part of Mevani’s campaign team said a day before the results: “On the last night of campaigning, pamphlets referring to some news report were distributed in Muslim-dominated pockets. They read that Mevani’s first girlfriend was a Muslim. Obviously, it was done to infuriate Muslim voters.”

He added that they were unsure about the ramifications of the attack by the “opposition” as they didn’t have time to counter the misinformation. On counting day, however, Mevani never lost his lead in the Vadgam seat and registered a victory by 19,690 votes. “I knew Muslims and Dalits will stand with me rock solid,” he said.

On his return to Ahmedabad, Mevani was holding a blue flag on the top of an open jeep – hundreds surrounded him. The air was charged up and joyous. Though his welcome had not been executed by any event management company, it was no less grand – crackers were burst and flowers showered on him. On the sound system, Jai Bheem on garba tunes and Bollywood songs hailing heroes were played. For women such as Madhuben, Mevani is now “humara bija Ambedkar (our second Ambedkar).”

Some of the youth shouted “dekho dekho kaun aaya, Modi tera baap aaya (look who is here! Modi your dad is here!)”. They were soon asked by the elders to refrain from shouting such slogans.

Unlike what he looks like in public speeches and on TV channels, Mevani is aware of his responsibilities. “I have to learn a lot about the legislation process,” he told Newslaundry. 

While he plans to spend at least “more than one day in his constituency”, a core team from Ahmedabad and Vadgam will stay in touch with voters.

Mevani has already visited the Palanpur collector’s office with a memorandum of demands, as promised to voters during the campaign. On his list of priorities are core issues of Vadgam, such as roads, water and pension of widows. He also plans to work for public healthcare along with Hardik Patel. But he insists that even Vadgam will not want him to remain restricted.

“I am sure Vadgam will want me to continue to fight for Dalits and expand my constituency in Gujarat and the rest of the country,” Mevani said.

This means the Left-liberal Ambedkarite activist will continue to agitate in the Assembly as well as on the streets of Gujarat and elsewhere. However, in a much polite tone, Mevani said: “I might make mistakes in this due process. But I am ready to learn from them.”