The prosperous Patel community of Gujarat — or Patidar, as they are called — is on the warpath, but the anger seems to many to be contrived to hide the real aims, which for now seem unclear. Under the leadership of Hardik Patel, a little known 22-year-old, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti has brought the state to its knees. It held a massive rally comprising about half-a-million people in Ahmedabad, suggesting the show of strength was well funded and extremely well organised, possibly with assistance from within the system. The Army had to be called in to restore order.
Police action has caused extensive violence, claiming many lives. Widespread arson and destruction of property, including of hundreds of government buses, were reported. BJP leaders of the Patel community were specially targeted by the mobs. This is odd. The Patels control the state BJP, its MLAs, ministers and MPs. The CM too is from this influential group.
The picture is indeed confusing. The Patels have been the BJP’s backbone since 1985, when the saffron party gathered steam in Gujarat with Patidar support. The Patels challenged the system of reservations (for SC-STs at that stage). Ironically, now the same community wants reservations in jobs and education quotas for itself, although Patidars have become prosperous. If they too need state protection, then what about others like the poor among the upper castes?
So, is the PAAS demand for reservations for real? From inside the agitation, voices have reportedly arisen suggesting that if Patels can’t be given quota benefits then quotas themselves must be scrapped. Ending quotas was the RSS-BJP’s point in 1985 in its successful bid to challenge the Congress domination of Gujarat through the Kham (Kashatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) combine, a coalition of socially disadvantaged groups. Another thing to consider — today, if the Patidars are up in arms due to their worsening economic conditions then what should be made of the so-called “Gujarat model of development”, which rested on the Patels’ success?
Whatever the forces behind the rise of Hardik Patel and PAAS — whether intra-BJP warring or a generational conflict to capture community leadership — the state must reassert itself swiftly. The scale of the turmoil has obliged Prime Minister Modi to appeal for “peace” and “dialogue in the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel” — a line he could have used as Chief Minister during the 2002 communal carnage, but didn’t. This must be followed by appropriate action.
