The six-month long 'banishment' from Gujarat has not dampened his resolve one bit. The sedition case slapped against him has not deterred him from holding back his punches. Twenty three-year-old Hardik Patel, the face of the Patidar reservation agitation in Gujarat, has returned back to the state and is ready for another wrestling match with the government over the reservation demand.
And this in a year that the state goes to polls.
Speaking to a few thousand Patidars who had assembled at Himmatnagar town in North Gujarat, Hardik Patel thundered: “I am ready for a fight to ensure OBC quota for Patidars. I am even ready for a legal fight. We will start visiting villages after two days. Together, we will do the GMDC dangal again.”
The massive rally at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad on August 25, 2015 was followed by protests and violence across the state that resulted in the death of 12 Patidars in police action.
A huge cavalcade of cars moved all the way from Ratanpur on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border to Himmatnagar where the public meeting was organised.
Patidars, or Patels account for about 12 per cent of the state’s population and the influential community has been a dedicated BJP votebank for the past over two decades.
The November 2017 elections will be an indicator of whether and to what extent this votebank has been eroded because of the agitation.
Interestingly, among those who welcomed Hardik Patel back into Gujarat was firebrand dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who presented Hardik with a photograph of freedom fighter and revolutionary, Bhagat Singh.
Initially, Hardik Patel’s demand for reservation for the Patidar community had not gone down too well with those sections of society already enjoying the benefits of reservation.
Mevani, however, categorically said that if dalits and Patidars joined hands, then they could easily vote the present BJP government out of power in Gujarat. Hardik himself clarified, that his demand of reservation for the Patidar community was not intended to harm any other community.
Predictably, both the Congress and AAP have welcomed Hardik Patel back to Gujarat. Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela, while welcoming Patel, said that the government should not use the administrative machinery to prevent Hardik from exercising his democratic rights.
An AAP release too welcomed Hardik back to Gujarat.
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