As Spiderman said, with great powers, comes great responsibilities. And not everyone can digest power, let alone be responsible about it. We have seen the downfall of activist turned politician Arvind Kejriwal who came to power on the plank of anti-corruption crusade and then went ahead and hugged the brand ambassador of corruption. He went from being a ‘hope’ to a joke by his lack of willingness to work and then blaming his inefficiency on Prime Minister Modi.
Even as we recovered from the Kejriwal catastrophe, another one was brewing in the background.
Jignesh Mevani started his career with Mukul Sinha, a very vocal Modi hater for about 8 years, working with him on the 2002 riots cases Sinha was working on. He claims to have worked on various Dalit issues and joined Aam Aadmi Party, then a rising political outfit, in Gujarat as an extension to his political ambition. After the Una agitation, he formally quit Aam Aadmi Party, perhaps realising his association with the sinking ship may bring down his own ambitions.
Soon after quitting Aam Aadmi Party, Jignesh decided to contest the Gujarat Assembly elections as an ‘independent’ candidate from Vadgam, and Congress had supported him in his venture. With BJP facing 22 years anti-incumbency in Gujarat, it became easier for fringe politicians to become mainstream. Mevani was one of them. He won the election, became an MLA, but could never come out of his ‘activist’ image.
Unlike his contemporary, Alpesh Thakore, Congress MLA and one of the three faces of Gujarat politics, Mevani has a ‘national appeal’. Because he’s very active on Twitter and regularly shares a stage with Delhi-based freelance protestors and also allegedly indulges in inciting mobs to take to violence. And when he’s not busy spreading lies, he shares photoshopped images of private citizens to target-bully them.
Today, Mevani tweeted an image of himself with another person dressed as Prime Minister Modi, where he appears to be apprehending the Modi-lookalike asking him to ‘end his drama’ and give answers about the promises he had made regarding job opportunities.
माओवादी मारने का प्लाट बना रहे है यह ड्रामा बंध कर दो, नौटंकीबाज़। सीधी सीधी बात करो – क्या हुआ 2 करोड़ रोज़गार का।
और हां, जब इस देश का युवा रोज़गार की बात करें, बीच में गाय का गोबर मत डालना। समजे क्या ? pic.twitter.com/q8hY0kC6rp— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) June 13, 2018
Even if you dismiss the fact that the dressed up fellow looks like a badly photoshopped version of John Dayal, Even as a lawyer himself, Mevani’s disregard for the law and basic sense of decorum is shocking.
While the jury is still out on who mentored him on his crass behaviour, Sinha or Kejriwal, one thing is for sure he needs some help before he becomes fully Kejriwalified.
