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Who Is Hardik Patel And What’s The Chaos In Gujarat Over Reservation

byShubhi Dixit
26th August 2015
4 minute read

The reservation row in Gujarat started with a few strikes and gatherings. Eventually, it escalated day by day and now it has taken a form that is both worrying and scary. Most people are confused about what is happening there and how this issue aggravated to take such a massive form.

What is the reservation row in Gujarat?

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The Patel and the Patidar community in Gujarat have demanded reservation under the Other Backward Community (OBC) quota. The issue has been gaining momentum for over a month in Gujarat creating major concerns for Anandiben lead BJP government in Gujarat.

Why the sudden demand?

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The issue had been brought in notice earlier, but it was rejected keeping in mind the lack of necessity and feasibility in its implication. However, several smaller political parties have now come together under the leadership of Hardik Patel and the issue has reached a worrying stage.

Hardik Patel, this name came into existence yesterday. Who’s this guy?

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Hardik Patel is a 22-year-old Patidar leader who evolved from being an unrecognised face in the crowd to the face of the protests in Gujarat. Belonging to a small town near Ahmedabad and dressed simply in shirts and trousers, this young man joined Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) two months back and soon gathered support with his energetic speeches. His team mostly constitutes of young rebels who are demanding quota for their community (which are 27 crores in number and spread across India). They have mostly taken the help of social media to organize and galvanize people through rallies and protests. On Monday morning, as many as 60,000 people had gathered to listen to him.

So who’s backing him?

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That’s the thing. Most parties are blaming the opposite parties of backing these riots in Gujarat. But Hardik Patel proudly announced in the rally on Monday that he doesn’t work for any party, he only works for the Patidars. He has openly challenged the BJP led state government saying that if their demands are not met, they won’t let BJP win the 2017 elections.

 

What is the controversy behind this guy?

He is a B.Com graduate with 50 percent aggregate and no Godfather backing him as of now. The media has called him disruptive and not violent, however after the massive nuisance created in Gujarat, the opinions are questionable.

What should we expect now?

Hardik Patel has called for a state-wide bandh tomorrow. RSS and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have tried to intervene and given their opinion over the issue while picking one side of the other. However, checking the scalability of momentum gathering over the issue and seeing the sheer number of people who had gathered in his support, it is quintessential that the centre responds to this issue because it does not look like it will die out soon.

Hardik Patel was yesterday arrested by the police and later released after an hour and a half. It was a challenging move on the part of state government as more than half a lakh people were standing by his side in the Ahmedabad rally to support him. As a result, the crowd soon turned into a vandalizing mob and torched buses in the city. After 13 years since the Gujarat riots, a curfew was imposed in Gujarat.

As of now, this ‘New Modi’ or ‘Ironman’ as termed by his supporters, doesn’t look like an easy bend. The country waits to see how the centre reacts to it and what form does the reservation row take now. Till then, Gujarat, be safe, peace shall prevail soon.

And till that happens, stay in and enjoy these #YoHardikSoReserved tweets:

News Source: DNA and The Hindu

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