With the elections a few months away, the BJP Government in Gujarat seems to have finally succumbed to the Patidar (Patel) pressure and initiated the process to withdraw criminal cases against the community’s youngsters during the pitched Hardik Patel’s agitation for quota for the Patels.
The pressure has been building up with a Patidar chief minister in Bhupendra Patel and sources said the district collectors have been directed to furnish details of all such cases in their areas. A report has been sought from each collector via video conferencing.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) of Hardik Patel took off in July 2015 and was largely driven by the Patels seeking Other Backward Class (OBC) status to facilitate reservation in schools and employment. Public demonstrations were held across the state, the largest one being in Ahmedabad on August 25.
Later, there were incidents of violence and arson, resulting in a curfew in several cities and towns. Properties and vehicles worth crores of rupees were damaged and destroyed. The chaos lasted for three days and resulted in several thousands of cases being slapped on the Patels.
After failed negotiations with the government, the agitation started again and turned violent again on September 19. Finally, a week later, the government announced offers of scholarships and subsidies to general category students and a 10 percent quota for the economically backward sections of the community in April 2016. However, the Gujarat High Court quashed the same, leading to two more years of agitation. In January 2019, the government amended the Constitution granting a maximum 10% reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections of the society.
In pursuance of the matter, many organizations have been urging the government to withdraw all cases against the Patidar youth during the agitation. Recently, Hardik Patel, now a Congress working president of Gujarat, threatened to revive the agitation if the criminal cases against Patidar youths were not withdrawn.
He even asserted that even if the State Government did not pull back cases against him, including two sedition cases, it must withdraw all other cases.
