Gandhinagar, February 19 The Congress and the ruling BJP engaged in a heated debate in the Gujarat assembly on Thursday after MLA Jignesh Mevani from the opposition party alleged that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was not holding regular meetings of the state-level monitoring cell established under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Raising the issue during the Question Hour of the assembly's budget session, Mevani claimed that the CM is required to conduct regular meetings of the state-level committee under the provisions of the Act, but these were not being held regularly.
Referring to a petition he had filed in the High Court, Mevani said the government had assured the court that such meetings would be conducted on a regular basis.
Mevani sought to know whether the meetings had indeed been held regularly as well as when the last meeting took place. The Dalit MLA further asked whether Patel, after becoming chief minister, had met any victims who had filed a complaint under the SC/ST Act.
Responding to the allegations, Social Justice and Empowerment minister Manisha Vakil told the House that meetings of the monitoring cell under the SC/ST Act are conducted regularly. She termed Mevani's charges as "baseless".
Vakil said the government extends assistance to victims whenever required and remains committed to ensuring such incidents do not occur.
"The meetings were held at regular intervals under the chairmanship of the CM. It was held on June 2019, September 2024 and December 2025," she said.
On being pressed by Mevani to specify the date of the last meeting, Vakil said it was held on December 4, and went on to add that Mevani himself was not present at the meeting.
Mevani countered her saying though the committee includes Dalit and tribal MLAs and MPs, it is not compulsory for them to attend such meetings. "But, as per the law, it is indeed compulsory for the CM to conduct the meeting," he said.
At this point, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi intervened, accusing the Congress MLA of raising the issue for publicity.
"Such questions are raised before media cameras when someone's claims are exposed," he said while pointing out that the CM had convened the meeting but Mevani himself was absent.
It is not appropriate to make such allegations inside the House, Sangahvi said. The matter was being raised to gain attention, he added.
This led to a verbal tussle between BJP and Congress MLAs, with several legislators from the opposition party rising in support of Mevani.
Speaker Shankar Chaudhary repeatedly asked members, including Mevani, to take their seats, but the verbal sparring continued for some time. The situation eventually cooled down after several interventions by the speaker.
After Question Hour, Agriculture minister Jitu Vaghani objected to Mevani's conduct.
Despite being asked multiple times by the Speaker to sit down, he did not comply, Vaghani said.
Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar countered the charge, saying Mevani had taken his seat as soon as the Speaker directed him to do so and that there was no need to escalate the matter further.