Gandhinagar: Papered over for the August 25 rally that triggered off unprecedented violence in the state, the fissures within the leadership of the quota stir in Gujarat has re-emerged in the discordant voices that are pulling in different directions. Pitted against each other are 22-year-old Hardik Patel of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and his one-time mentor Laljibhai Patel of Sardar Patel Group (SPG).
These differences came to the fore on Thursday when both held separate meetings in Ahmedabad to ’chalk out’ the future course of action in support of their demand for reservation to the community in the OBC category. While both emphatically state that they are fighting for the same cause -inclusion of patidars in the OBC category and adequate compensation for those killed or injured in the violence that followed their ‘maharally’ on August 25, the route they plan to take throws up their differences.
Both chose to hold their respective meetings today and both decided on Ahmedabad as the venue of their meeting. While the Hardik group met at Umiya Dham on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, Laljibhai chose the opposite end of the city at Kathwada for his meeting. Again while the Hardik team after the bout of unprecedented violence now seeks to abjure aggression and turn to Gandhian ways – he will lead a yatra from Dandi to Ahmedabad – Lalji’s group will hold prayer meetings and light incense sticks to pay homage to the Patels who were killed in the police violence. Asked for his reaction to the Hardik plan, Lalji says “you will have to ask him about his plans, we can tell you about ours”.
Though both talk of a broadbased representative leadership to take charge of the stir, Hardik sees himself at the forefront of his group.”I will be leading the Dandi yatra and will be addressing meetings enroute”, he says. Laljibhai, however, plans to form a committee of elders who shall take all decisions in relation to the agitation. “There will be no individual leading, neither Hardik nor me. The core committee will decide on everything. It will be collective leadership”, he says. The differences between the two are deeply embedded. Hardik was merely the Viramgam town head of the SPG headed by Laljibhai. When it was decided to broaden the stir, he was asked to look after the social media part of it.
The Lalji group alleges that Hardik used this opportunity to build himself as the leader of the stir and then broke away to form his own splinter called PAAS. The trouble between both which had been papered over by elders in the run up to the ‘maharally’ on August 25, split wide open when in an act of oneupmanship, Hardik demanded that the chief minister personally come to the stage at their rally to accept their charter of demands. This caught everyone by surprise and the other group made it clear that it did not agree with this stand.
After the rally, all the others left leaving Hardik and his group forlorn. The rift is taking a toll on the agitation. Already, the government forced Hardik’s supporters to change the venue of their meeting more than once today as the police took the plea that no permission had been taken for the meeting.
