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Manas Dasgupta
Ahmedabad, January 17
Hardik Patel, the face of Patel quota stir in Gujarat, returned to his home state today amid tumultuous welcome after serving six months of exile and straightway threw a challenge to the state BJP government to grant quota or face “fight of any kind”.
The convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Hardik (23) spent six months of exile in Udaipur, Rajasthan, on orders from the Gujarat High Court. The condition was put forth while granting him bail on July 15 last in a sedition case filed by the state government.
He was received by a cavalcade of his supporters at Ratanpur on the Rajasthan- Gujarat border and after reception at several places, he reached Himmatnagar to address first rally on his return. He said if the government desired, it could grant reservation benefits to the Patels without creating any constitutional problems. “But it is simply trying to buy time in the name of negotiations.” He said even at the risk of being jailed again or even hanged, he would “resume and continue to fight for the cause of the community.”
Making a detour to political issues, Hardik said he was keen to “free” Patels and Gujarat from the “misrule of General Dyer”. He did not take any name but the reference was obvious as he had called PM Narendra Modi by that name several times in the past after 14 Patel youths were killed in police firing following the mega rally in Ahmedabad in August 2015.
About the impact of Hardik’s return and “resumption” of quota stir on the Assembly poll due later this year, CM Vijay Rupani said “it was too early to assess the impact.” He said the government did not wish any confrontation with the Patels and would try to resolve the dispute through negotiations.
Some PAAS leaders claimed Hardik’s reception would have been more grander had it not co-incided with “Pran Pratistha Mahotsava” of Khodaldham temple, main deity of Patidars, at Kagvad near Rajkot where lakhs of Patels from all over the state assembled for the religious ceremony.
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