'Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt,' Jignesh tweets after scribes boycott pressmeet

As soon as the newsmen started getting ready for the event by arranging the microphones, Mevani asked the reporter of an English news channel to remove his equipment.

Chennai, Jan 16: In response to journalists' boycott his press meet in Chennai, Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani urged the media not to be unfair.

In a show of solidarity, journalists on Tuesday boycotted a press meet to be addressed by Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani in Chennai after he refused to talk in the presence of an English news channel.

Following the incident, social media was flooded with comments supporting Chennai media for boycotting the event.

Mevani tweeted, "The nation wants to know tonight why I did this. Answer is: my integrity is impeccable. Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt."

The nation wants to know tonight why I did this. Answer is : my integrity is impaccable. Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt.

— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) January 16, 2018

After a closed door interaction with students and academicians, Mevani had agreed to a short media meet.

As soon as the newsmen started getting ready for the event by arranging the microphones, Mevani asked the reporter of an English news channel to remove his equipment.

The legislator made it clear that he will not talk in the presence of that TV channel since it was "his policy".

"We were arranging the microphone. As soon as he saw microphone that had our logo, he asked us to remove it. I told him we want a general byte and not an exclusive. But he refused", the reporter of that particular channel covering the event told PTI.

"We felt like he was dictating terms. We just sought a byte from him on issues relating to the State (Tamil Nadu)", he said.

The video released later by the TV channel showed Mevani saying he will not speak if there was a question from that particular channel.

"If a question comes (from that channel) I will stop speaking to anyone. Let the mic be removed", Mevani said.

Reacting to Mevani's rider, another TV channel reporter told him: "You cannot demand like that. If you do not want to talk then it is up to you. Thank You."

PTI