Patel, Patidar
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In brief
India Today, August 20, 2015
The Patel community's demand for inclusion in OBC quota threatens to blow up in the Gujarat government's face
On July 6, 1985, Madhavsinh Solanki stepped down after being the chief minister of Gujarat for a little over 100 days in his second successive term. Problems began when Solanki decided to increase the quota of reserved seats in educational institutions for Kshatriyas, a backward OBC community in Gujarat. The decision sparked off protests, which led to violence, leading to his resignation. The anti-reservation agitation was led by the Patels, on the whole an affluent community that forms 12 to 15 per cent of Gujarat's population. Just over 30 years on, an organisation called the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) brought the city of Surat to a halt on August 17 with a rally attended by more than 400,000 people. Patidars are Patels in Gujarat, and the organisation is demanding inclusion of the community in the list of OBCs and a share of the 27 per cent reservation pie. The wheel, it seems, has come a full circle. The once anti-quota Patels are now making their pro-reservation demands become more than just an irritant for another CM-one from their community, Anandiben Patel. The ongoing stir, led by Hardik Patel, 22, a small-time businessman from Viramgam, not very far from Mehsana and Gandhinagar, the home districts of PM Narendra Modi, CM Patel and BJP President Amit Shah, is supported by several Patel caste groups. That they are more than just bluster was evident from the words of Hardik: "It's a misnomer that all Patels are affluent; only a handful are. If we don't get reservation we will show our political power in the elections to come." While some believe Hardik is ambitious and is using the agitation to realise his political ambitions, he denies any political involvement.
The speeches made at the Surat rally and the placards carried by those in attendance, primarily young and middle-aged men from the community, bring home the first real threat for CM Patel's 15-month-old government. "Arise Patels, demand reservation" and "Patidars can make or break governments", they proclaimed. Even if one considers that the gathering had a fair sprinkling of jobless Patel workers of the much weakened Surat diamond industry, it set the alarm bells ringing. And the bells grew only louder as the day wore on, with talks between a ministerial committee and Patidar Andolan Sankalan Samiti (PASS) in Gandhinagar yielding no result. Led by Gujarat cabinet minister Nitin Patel, the committee was set up by the state government at the behest of Amit Shah. Nitin Patel says the Supreme Court's recent judgment striking down reservation for relatively affluent caste groups such as the Jats means the state government has little role to play in this case. "But we are still willing to talk," he adds. Despite some differences on strategy the newly formed PASS supports Hardik's PAAS. The Patel community's demand meanwhile has led to similar appeals from Brahmins and upper caste Thakkars, a trading caste. It has also led to threats of protests from powerful OBC groups such as the Rabaris (shepherds) and Bharwads, as well as the backward Kshatriyas, in the event of any division in the OBC quota. At least one organisation, Thakore Kshatriya Sena, has announced that it will oppose any move to include Patels in the OBC list. "We will not brook any interference in the OBC quota. We will oppose it tooth and nail," says its leader, Alpesh Thakore. The Sena has a presence in 9,000 villages-nearly half the state-where it runs programmes for social uplift of OBC Kshatriyas. The PAAS and the Sardar Patel Group, another organisation of Patels, have held 107 rallies in the state at the city and tehsil headquarter-levels since July 6, when the first Patel rally was staged in Mehsana. Even the smallest rally has seen participation of 5,000 to 10,000 people, and the total participation to date is estimated to be around 2 million-nearly 17 per cent of the Patel population, and about three or four per cent of the state's residents.
Despite denials by Hardik Patel and others about any political affiliation to the ongoing protests, the way the whole agitation has taken shape indicates the presence of political leaders in their camp. Many in the political circles say some leaders sidelined first by Modi and then his protege, Anandiben, are stoking passions. And if that be the case, the Chief Minister, with governance in Gujarat weakened in the absence of Modi's charisma, could be staring at a full-blown crisis sooner rather than later.
