 "Patidar, Patel, Gujarat, Surat")
While a state-wide bandh announced by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) on Monday received lukewarm response, a Cabinet ministerial committee of the Gujarat government reached out to the Patidar (Patel) community leaders for truce. While the meeting was inconclusive, both the state government and the Patel community leaders termed it ‘positive’.
Nitin Patel, Gujarat government spokesperson and health minister, said: “The discussions were positive and fruitful. The community leaders seemed satisfied. We have discussed their demands and now the same will be communicated to the chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. We will soon meet the community leaders again.” He added the government had requested the community to abstain from holding any further protests.
The meeting was held between senior Patidar community leaders including Vipin Patel, the uncle of Hardik Patel - who is considered the ‘face of the agitation’ - and senior ministers including Saurabh Patel, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Shankar Chaudhary, among others.
The community leaders said the government seemed positive on most of their demands. According one of the leaders, Jeram Patel, there were no discussions on their reservation demands. In all, 27 demands have been made to the government by PAAS and SPG, including the release of Hardik Patel, who is under arrest on charges of sedition, and reservation for Patidars.
The bandh was announced after the Patidar community's rally in Mehsana turned violent on Sunday following a police-mob clash, forcing the administration to impose curfew in the home district of Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel.
Considered an epicentre of the Patidar reservation agitation, Mehsana saw mobile Internet and SMS services being suspended, along with other cities such as Surat, Rajkot, Sabarkantha and parts of Ahmedabad. Curfew was lifted in Mehsana by Monday morning, but mobile Internet and SMS services continued to remain suspended. These are likely to be lifted after Tuesday midnight. Despite the call for bandh, several shops and private banks, along with schools and colleges remained open.
On Sunday, the community had planned rallies in various parts of the state. Raising anti-establishment slogans against the ruling BJP, the rally was headed towards the district police headquarters in Mehsana. Police was forced to resort to baton charge and tear gas shelling, after the mob began pelting stones at the police, resulting in a clash.
Following the incident, around 400 agitators were detained including SPG leader Lalji Patel, who suffered injuries during the clash.
Earlier, Lalji Patel had alleged the BJP of following ‘double standards’ on reservation, where on one side it accepted the demand for Jat reservation in Haryana, but rejected the same for Patidars in Gujarat.
