Early career In 2004, Mevani shifted to
Mumbai and became a journalist with the
Gujarati language news magazine called
Abhiyaan. Eventually, he joined the civil rights organisation run by Mukul Sinha, called
Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM). Mevani was encouraged to pursue a degree in law in order to be better equipped to assist individuals in need of legal representation. He also joined the
Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 and became its Gujarat spokesperson. On 11 July 2016, seven Dalit youths were tortured in the town of
Una, Gujarat on the pretext of cow protection and in the presence of the police. The assailants had filmed the incident and it was widely shared over social media. The incident culminated into a mass movement and large scale
militancy among Dalits in the state. and was appointed the convener of the committee.
Dalit mahasabha and #Chalo Una march The Dalit
mahasabha (
grand assembly) was held on 31 July 2016, The march was alternatively designated as the
Dalit Asmita Yatra (Dalit Self Respect Journey), It began on 5 August and was led by Mevani along with a core group of 70 marchers, the numbers swelled up to thousands throughout the duration of the march as Dalits from across the state joined along various parts of it. The marchers also included activists from the Navsarjan Trust, the
Jan Sangharsh Manch and the
Communist Party of India. Mevani was instrumental in making the issue of land reform and the allocation of land to landless Dalits a major demand of the protest reasoning that if Dalits had the land, they would not have to engage in their traditional occupations such as skinning and disposing of dead cows. On the route, the march received support from
Scheduled Caste (SC) villages and no opposition or support from others. Activities such as meetings, distribution of radical literature, etc were confined to the SC villages. From 13 August onwards, the eighth day of the march, as the group approached closer to Una, locals from non-SC villages and
Hindu nationalists began attacking the procession with stones, blockading their route and harassing the participants. and witnessed a gathering of around 15,000 Dalits from around the state in the mass meeting. The assembly also saw the attendance of the Republican Panthers among Dalits, as well as a significant number of Muslims and students from various educational institutions.
Radhika Vemula, the mother of
Rohith Vemula, was also present and concluded the event with a flag salutation. Mevani along with several of his friends were the founders of the platform. He was also involved in the efforts of UDALS to form an alliance with the large network of
Julahas (weavers) composed primarily of Dalit converts to
Islam, another targeted community in atrocities on the pretext of cow protection. the proposed
rail roko agitation was planned to begin on 1 October, at the
Maninagar railway station in Ahmedabad. He was detained for a second time on 19 September during the staging of a protest outside the
District Collector's office in Ahmedabad and again released on 20 September. The protests continued over the month and the
rail roko agitation was eventually called off on 1 October 2016, after the state government acceded to sitting on negotiations. The first meeting between the RDAM and the state government was held on 3 October. The repeated use of
preventive detention during the protests received criticism and were described as
state repression and as a method of stifling the agitations. The #Chalo Una march inspired a similar rally called Chalo Udupi in the state of
Karnataka. Held in response to an assault on a Dalit family by a unit of the
Bajrang Dal in the town of
Chikmagalur, it began on 4 October at
Freedom Park, Bangalore and ended on 9 October in the town of
Udupi. Mevani attended the concluding event of the march and gave a speech accusing the government of caste based discrimination in land re-distribution and calling for a ban on
gau rakshak groups and the practice of
pankti bheda (caste based segregation) at the
Udupi Sri Krishna Matha. The protests led by Mevani also inspired a similar protest from
Banjaras in
Rajasthan in response to another assault by members of the Bajrang Dal on the pretext of cow protection. As of December 2016, the negotiations between the RDAM and the government had led to the distribution of plots of land to around 200 Dalit families. On 9 January 2017, Mevani announced the beginning of an agitation during the
Vibrant Gujarat Summit. The reason provided by Mevani for the agitation was that the government was readily offering land to corporate giants and signing countless
memorandums of understanding with them while refusing to budge on enacting physical transfers of land to landless farmers and Dalits. The protest was scheduled to be held at
Adalaj, 10 km away from the venue of the summit but in the early morning of 10 January, Mevani was detained by the police and released later at night. Sagar Rabari, the farmers' rights activist and the general secretary of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj (), and Atul Patel, the
Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader were also detained on the day for declaring their support for the agitation. Following release, Mevani accompanied by a team of RDAM activists presented a statement at the district magistrate's office which outlined the reason for holding protests and their demands, which according to him was dismissed by the officials. The dismissal prompted the RDAM and Mevani to commence plans for disrupting the summit by reviving the idea of the
rail roko agitation which had been cancelled earlier in October 2016 with the beginning of the negotiations. On 11 January, RDAM activists including Mevani attempted to halt the
Rajdhani Express at the
Ahmedabad Junction railway station. According to the security commissioner in charge of the Ahmedabad division,
Western Railway zone, the protesters emerged out of nowhere, Mevani himself climbed on top of the engine of the train and a group of women began to squat on the tracks in front of the train. On the anniversary of the fogging incident, the RDAM conducted an event at the Ambedkar Hall, Ahmedabad. The auditorium saw a full attendance and featured participants from across the country including Kumar, the Manav Suraksha Kanoon committee member Anil Chamdia and the relatives of the victims of various lynching cases. The success of the programme prompted the announcement of the second
Azaadi Kooch. It was scheduled to begin in the town of
Mehsana and conclude at the town of
Dhanera,
Banaskantha district. Banaskantha Dalit Sangathan (BDS), a grassroots rights organisation was instrumental in co-ordinating with the RDAM to organise the procession. The march began on 12 July and was marked by a
jan sabha (
people's assembly) of around 1,500 people at Somnath Chowk, Mehsana, located 75 km away from Ahmedabad. Mevani at the gathering, re-iterated the continued denial of physical possession of allotted land to the landless labourers and Dalit families in the state and their demands for it
. From the beginning the march was led by a large contingent of Dalit women, who gave speeches, sang songs and coined slogans on multiple occasions. One of the key issues the movement brought up was to campaign against the traditional custom of
ghoonghat (face veil). It reached the town of
Deesa on 15 July, During the gathering, the Dalits from Lavara reached the rally and informed them that their land was illegally occupied by a group of
Rajputs who had threatened them including their
sarpanch (village head). On receiving the news, Mevani announced that they would sit on a
dharna (sit in protest) outside the Dhanera police station. The police agreed to file a
First Information Report (FIR) against the encroachers, but prevented the procession from entering the village itself. According to
The Citizen news website, the march received a media blackout from most of the mainstream media. == Member of Legislative Assembly ==