Jignesh Mewani, the young Dalit leader from Gujarat who has been elected to the state Assembly, has announced that he will campaign against the BJP in the upcoming Karnataka state assembly polls. 

“I am not concerned about which party will benefit by my campaign ... but my focus is to defeat the BJP,” he said. Mewani was speaking at an event organised by the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike in Chikkamagaluru.

He urged activists in the state to field candidates associated with people’s movements in the upcoming elections. “No matter to which party or organisation the candidate belongs to, we have to support him or her. We shall also appeal to the Congress not to field its candidates against them, as the party did in my case in Gujarat. Our goal must be to defeat the Sangh Parivar,” said Mewani as per The Hindu.

Mewani, who contested in the Gujarat Assembly elections as an independent candidate from Vadgam constituency, was at the eye of a controversy recently for calling out PM Narendra Modi and saying he has become a ‘budha’ (old man). He also expressed fears over increasing communal violence in the country. “Communalism is a big threat to the country and BJP is an even bigger threat to the nation,” he was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

He also said that the unity of dalits and muslims will pose a threat to communal forces in the country. “During the elections in Gujarat, 80% of Muslims and Dalits in Vadgam voted against the BJP I wish here in Karnataka, 95% of Dalits, Muslims, farmers, and workers vote against the BJP. In recent years, after incidents like Una, there is unity among Dalits and Muslims. As women of Dalit and Backward Classes prayed in temples for my victory, more than 200 Muslim women observed a fast for me. The unity should spread across the country, and that would pose a great threat to the communal forces,” he said as per The Hindu.