BJP will not get more than 80 seats: Mewani

Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani on Wednesday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘development model’, predicting that the party won’t win more than 80 seats in the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat.

Talking to reporters at the Delhi Press Club, Mewani touched on various topics related to the polls. “(I) will always oppose the BJP and RSS because they work against the Preamble of the Constitution. They just want to establish a Hindu Rashtra,” Mewani said.

“In 2000, the number of BPL card holders in Gujarat was 26 lakh and by 2014-15, it had gone up to 41 lakh,” he said. “Is the increase in the number of BPL card holders development?” he questioned.

Writing off the ‘Gujarat model’, Mewani challenged PM Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani to hold a debate with him. “They could decide on a place and time of their convenience to talk about development, or the Gujarat model,” Mewani said.

Taking a dig at Modi’s election motto of Na Khaunga Na Khaane Doonga, Mewani said, “The BJP government in Gujarat tabled the CAG report on the last date of the assembly session. In the three CAG reports, financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 2.2 crore had been pointed out. Everything is a mere jumla.”

Reserving another jibe for Amit Shah and his son, Mewani said, “There is no development of common man. The only development visible is of Jay Shah.”

“He (Jay Shah) puts one rupee into a pipe and gets Rs 16,000 from the other side,” he said, in an apparent reference to 16,000 per cent profit recorded by Jay Shah’s company after the general election victory of the BJP in 2014.

Defending Hardik Patel over the surfacing of an alleged sex CD, he said that it showed the desperation of the BJP. “Instead of playing the development card, the BJP has stooped so low that it is talking about a sex CD of a young leader,” Mewani told reporters.

“If people want to save the country,” Mewani added, “then it is necessary to stop the BJP from coming to power in 2019. For that, it is necessary to stop the BJP in their stronghold of Gujarat in 2017.

“The BJP wants to divert attention from their failures to deliver on simple promises, and that’s why they are playing up matters over the alleged CD, besides trying to foment communal discord,” Mewani said.

“The position of the Dalits in the state is pathetic, but nobody talks about them,” Mewani added.

Stating very confidently that the BJP will lose terribly in their own backyard as people know who to vote for, Mewani said, “Neither I am contesting the election, nor am I supporting anyone. But I will work to defeat the BJP and people know whom to vote for to defeat the BJP.