Dalit leader and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani on Friday denied making inflammatory speech in Pune.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mevani said, "Not even a single word of my speech was inflammatory or provocative."
An FIR was registered against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid in Pune on Thursday under sections 153(A), 505 and 117 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The FIR was registered after two complainants—Akshay Bikkad and Anand Dhond—approached police and alleged Mevani and Khalid had made "provocative" comments at an event on December 31 organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon.
The dalit leader alleged that the 'false' FIR is the brainchild of the RSS and the BJP.
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"Members of Sangh Parivar (RSS) and BJP made a childish attempt to tarnish my image and target me. It is an aftereffect of the Gujarat results and also because they have a sense of fear about 2019," Mewani claimed.
Bhima-Koregaon violence in which a person was killed has led to protests on streets and in Parliament.
The dalit community is up in the arms over the incident.
However, the Maharashtra government has denied that any dalit was killed in Bhima-Koregaon where clashes broke out between two groups on Monday during an event to mark 200 years of Bhima Koregaon battle near Pune.
