"56 inches of cowardice": Jignesh Mevani on his arrest

Jignesh Mevani addressed a press conference at the AICC headquarters in Delhi on Monday to talk about his arrest that he said was orchestrated by the "Godse bhakts sitting in the PMO".

Mevani said, "During the last 8-10 years, question papers of 22 exams have been leaked in Gujarat. Why has there been no investigation into this? Drugs worth Rs. 1,75,000 crore were found at the Mundra port. Why has there been no FIR, no interrogation or investigation against Gautam Adani? A Dalit female member of the Gujarat BJP accused a sitting minister of Gujarat of rape, and the issue was even raised in the Gujarat Assembly. Why was nothing done about it? Why has there been no investigation in the genocide calls raised against a particular community during the Dharam Sansad? Some people raised slogans of "Goli maaron saalon ko"."

He asked the journalists what does it show when no action is taken against these issues but he is arrested for a tweet. "It shows the intention and priority of the government." He also clarified that his tweet only appealed to the PM to help maintain communal harmony in the three places in Gujarat which recently witnessed communal violence.

The Gujarat MLA also mentioned that since it took a lot of time for the Assam police to travel to Gujarat to arrest him, they might have already booked their flight tickets before even registering an FIR.

Mevani alleged that he wasn't given a copy of the FIR or was told which sections he was arrested under. He also wasn't allowed to contact his family or his lawyer. He added that in a blatant disregard of MLA Protocol, the Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly wasn't even informed of Mevani's arrest beforehand.

Mevani said, "This is 56 inches of cowardice." He claimed that the Assam Police hid behind a female constable to file a fake case against him.

Quoting the Assam Judiciary, Mevani said that the FIR against him is manufactured and not maintainable. He questioned who was behind the actions of Assam police.

Answering his own question, Mevani alleged that this was a conspiracy by the PM to defame him ahead of the Gujarat elections. He alleged that the phones and laptops of his team, and their parents (in case the team members were not available) were seized by the Assam police.

He challenged the PM to start investigations into the other matters as well.