Country is ready for change in 2019 LS polls: Jignesh

Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani, who won the assembly polls from Vadgam in Gujarat, said on Monday that the country is ready for change in the 2019 Lok Sahba elections as the BJP could get only 99 seats despite its repeated claims of winning 150.

"The country is ready for change. That's why against the target of 150 seats you could manage to win only 99. And it is just the beginning. A storm will come for a change," Mevani said in a tweet.

Mewani's tweet was in apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Monday in which he said that the country was ready for economic reforms.

Mevani also took potshots at Modi in a Facebook post by referring to Vadnagar, the home town of the Prime Minister.

"The people of Vadgam has given reply to the one from Vadnagar. In 2-4 days a road show from Vadgam to Vadnagar will be arranged and an agitation of cleanliness workers will be planned," he said.

Mevani had said on Saturday that he will organise a 50-km road show from Vadgam to Vadnagar.

Mevani had contested the polls as an independent and was backed by the Congress. The 36-year old Dalit leader also vowed to raise issues concerning farmers and labourers in the state assembly.

Mevani has led a movement in Gujarat for empowerment of Dalits, who comprise about seven per cent of the state's population.

He became the face of the Dalit backlash after four Dalit youths at Una in Gujarat were whipped by cow vigilantes.

--IANS

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