The 22 year old Patidar leader who anchored the recent protests in Gujarat for reservation, landed in New Delhi last weekend with ambitions of promoting his movement across India. In Delhi he met with representatives of the Jat and Gujjar communities and sought their help to turn his agitation into a nationwide one. He has also sent feelers to the communities in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and western UP.
The young Patel claims the Patidars are spread in several corners of India, from Rajasthan to Andhra Pradesh, and are nearly 2.7 million. “The Kurmis of Bihar and their leader Nitish Kumar is ours; the Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is also part of the Patidar family,” he said. The Gujjars, part of the OBC list, have been demanding quota benefits under a separate category of special backward classes for almost a decade. After touching base in the state, an enthusiastic Patel quoted, “We want to take our movement to every part of the nation. I have come to Delhi to make future plan of action.” The Patidar Anamat Sangharsh Samiti leader invoked Sardar Patel as the icon behind a nationwide agitation demanding reservation for different communities.
In the meeting at the Gujjar Bhavan in Patparganj, East Delhi, that was attended by Gujjar leaders from eight different states, he said, “Just as Sardar Patel united scores of small principalities and Kingdoms in British India to become one country, I will make sure that we, the vanshaj (descendants) of Sardar Patel will unite all communities agitating for OBC status and present a national front.” Earlier, he addressed a press conference where he announced his intention to “bring the agitation for reservation to Jantar Mantar in Delhi.” “I will travel across the country to wherever there are demands for reservation and unfairly being kept out of the OBC list,” he said. He refuted any plans to enter politics or politicise the PASS movement. “I am not desirous of entering politics or allowing any politician into this movement. We are only agitating for addition of the Patidar community into the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC),” he said.
The meeting where he was heralded as “the future prime minister of the country”, Hardik Patel urged his supporters “to speak with swords instead of garlands”, saying this was the only way to “conquer India”. Taking a dig at the dozens of leaders who garlanded him during the event, he said, “My language may seem different to you because I believe in straight talk, not pleasing people. Achchi baat hai phoolon ke haar se swagat karte hain, par meri maano toh yeh haar pehnana chhodo. Jahan haar pehna, wahin haar shuru. Haar chhodo aur talwar nikalo… Yahan pe talwar se baatein chalti hain (It’s good that one is welcomed with flowers. But if you ask me, that’s the beginning of defeat. Forget flowers, bring out the swords. Here, that’s the only language that works).”
“Nobody could break the Luv-Kush pair. We have to be a front so tight that nobody dares look at our mothers and sisters.” Hardik has repeatedly underlined the supposed links of Gujarat’s Leuva and Kadva Patels to Lord Ram’s sons Luv and Kush. “Our Patels in Gujarat think no one listens to us in Uttar Pradesh, that we get robbed in UP. Give us a year, the whole country will have to heed us.” Stating that the Patels respect Mahatma Gandhi and idolise Sardar Patel, he added, “but when pushed, we can become Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh”. “This is the only way to get fateh (victory) over India. All castes have to be one and fight. If someone touches any of our sisters, break his hand,” Hardik said.
“They will come to our homes, beg us to take reservation,” he added.
“After our agitation, the Gujarat Police entered our homes and told our women, 'If you want reservation, come to us'. Eight thousand and nine hundred farmers have committed suicide in Gujarat, all of them Patels. In the last decade, only 465 of us have got government jobs in Class III-IV ranks.” Making it clear there was no space for dissenters as far as he goes, he said, “Even if people are from your own community and not supporting you, throw them out. Out of 27 crore Gujjars, if even one crore are not supportive, pick them and throw them out, even if it’s the prime minister or chief minister… A single fox can disturb a herd of tigers. Even if that is my father, throw him out. Our priority should be unity, unity and unity.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his radio show 'Mann ki Baat', called the agitation, the “Dance of Death”, saying the entire nation was pained if the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel witnessed something like this. “But in a short span of time, the people of Gujarat handled the situation and played an active role in stopping the situation from worsening. And Gujarat once again began its journey on the path of peace,” Modi said. “Peace, unity and brotherhood… this is the right path.”
