Read his lips, Hardik Patel wants more than just quota
Hardik Patel, the face of the Patidar reservation movement in Gujarat, addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad and chose to speak in Hindi, not Gujarati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, did that, whenever he wanted the message to go beyond Gujarat. Patel’s message too is not for the people who came to the rally, but for people across India watching him on TV. The message was clear: He is projecting himself as the future leader of the middle caste Patidars, spread across north and middle India. Patel invoked the kurmis of the Gangetic Plains and the Kammas of Andhra Pradesh to let all know that he is looking beyond Gujarat.
Forward march
A 22-year-old boy from Viramgam has announced his arrival in politics with such a ferocious roar that it threatens the Bharatiya Janata Party in its comfort zone of Gujarat. Two months ago, few bothered about Patel. Today, even the seasoned ones do not know how to deal with this outlier, who is using quota politics as his launch vehicle. Patidar or Patels are not counted among the backward castes. They are numerically, financially and socially too strong to be considered backward, at least in Gujarat.
Journalist and Amnesty International’s India helmsman Aakar Patel finds it as ludicrous as Jews in America claiming they are economically weak. On the contrary, Patels are not backward in America either. They are one of the most successful, if not the most successful, immigrant groups.
Main bhi backward
The last time the landowning Patels went to town screaming slogans was when they agitated against caste-based reservation. That was in the 1980s, when the Congress ruled with its invincible equation of KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasis and Muslims). Except Muslims, the other three communities got reservation.
The Patels, who comprise almost 20 per cent of Gujarat's population, drifted towards the BJP. After the implementation of the Mandal Commission report, some other backward castes came into the quota fold. Patels were left out. The industrious and enterprising Patels never bothered, as they rode what later came to be known as a resurgent Gujarat. They made the most of the economic boom and their support to the BJP brought the party to power, which it continues to enjoy more than two decades later. The party also helped in cementing the Patel dominance by a systematic prominence given to Sardar Patel instead of the other and greater son of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi, in the broad scheme of things.
No mystery at all
So how did Hardik Patel suddenly create a space for this agitation and arrive on the scene with such force? Well, the reasons are both economic and political. The slump in small- and medium-scale industries has hurt them as big conglomerates, many led by Patels, emerged to dominate the scene. The diamond industry of Surat, another stronghold of Patels, has taken a hit as international players have made the going tough. Farming, always dominated by Patels, has grown, but is not seen as a future-proof occupation.
They want a share in the government jobs pie for the youth coming out of farming families. They find that they cannot compete with castes with quota benefits. Hardik Patel has got the emotive rhetoric right: “A Patidar student with 90 per cent marks does not get admission in an MBBS course, while SC/ST or OBC students get it with 45 per cent marks.” Patel is a recent graduate from Ahmedabad’s Sahajanand College. He managed just about 50 per cent marks. His father is a farmer. He could see Patidar students like him have little option, if they do not have sufficient capital to start a business.
The vacuum
He understood that frustration because he was part of a Patidar youth group called the Sardar Patel Group, an organisation that did not initially support his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) or Patidar Reservation Movement Committee. He also sensed the growing leadership vacuum in Gujarat after the strongman called Narendra Modi left the state for Delhi. His successor, Anandiben Patel, is a Patel, but hasn’t filled the vacuum left by Modi.
Sardar of Patels
Modi succeeded in claiming the legacy of Sardar Patel, but he is not Patel by caste. Anandiben is a Modi protégé, and the biggest Patel leader of recent times, Keshubhai, was forced to retire by Modi, a Ghanchi. Many Patels believed that Modi had usurped the leadership from a Patel leader and unjustly marginalised him. Hardik Patel wishes to be the rightful inheritor of the great Patel’s legacy.
Gujju macho
Gujaratis loved the aggression of Modi. The exaggerated machismo was part of his charisma. He spoke a language that mild-mannered, business-minded, peace-loving, vegetarian Gujaratis weren’t associated with. Hardik tops that with a double-barrel on his shoulder. Pyaar se nahin denge to chheen lenge.
Chief minister Anandiben has said that giving reservation to Patels is not possible, because the Supreme Court guidelines bar states from reserving more than 50 per cent seats in government recruitments. If Patels are included in the OBC list, eligible for 27 per cent quota, the OBCs will revolt because it will shrink the latter’s space. The Haryana government tried that by including Jats in the OBC category, but the Supreme Court struck that down. Whether Patels get what Hardik Patel's movement believes is their due or not, Hardik Patel is all set to carve out his space in Gujarat politics. He is just 22. In 2019, he will be eligible to contest elections. He has begun in time.