News Analysis India

Tag: Patidar community

  • Gujarat: After staying away from BJP in 2017, Patidars back ruling party to the hilt in 2022 polls

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The Patidar community, a section of which had voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 Assembly polls held in the backdrop of the quota agitation in Gujarat, returned to the ruling outfit in the 2022 elections, helping it win most of the seats dominated by the influential social group.

    The BJP has done extremely well in the Patidar-dominated constituencies of the state, winning almost every seat that has significant Patel population.

    Polling for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly took place on December 1 and 5, and votes were counted on December 8.

    In the Saurashtra region, the Congress had won Patidar-dominated seats of Morbi, Tankara, Dhoraji and Amreli, among others in 2017. However, all these Assembly segments this time went in the BJP’s kitty.

    In Patidar-dominated Surat, where the AAP was banking on the community to bag a few seats, the social group by and large backed the ruling party. The saffron outfit won Patidar seats of Varachha Road, Katargam and Olpad with huge margins.

    In North Gujarat, the Congress had won Patidar-dominated Unjha seat five year ago, but this time it was wrested by the BJP. The BJP, ahead of the 2022 elections, reached out to the Patel community.

    The party replaced its Chief Minister Vijay Rupani with incumbent Bhupendra Patel in September 2021.

    The ruling outfit brought in Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel to its fold from the Congress and fielded him from the Viramgam Assembly seat from where he won by a handsome margin.

    ALSO READ| Gujarat: Clinching Viramgam seat in poll debut is no cakewalk for Patidar face Hardik Patel

    The biggest move of the BJP at the state and central level which placated the community was giving 10 per cent quota in jobs and education to the poor (economically weaker sections or EWS) among “upper castes”.

    The 2017 polls were fought in the shadow of Hardik Patel-led quota agitation launched to secure OBC status for the community. In the 2017 elections, despite setting an ambitious target of winning 150 out of the 182 seats, the BJP bagged just 99 seats.

    Thanks to the Patidar quota agitation and whirlwind campaign by Hardik Patel against the BJP, the opposition Congress had then emerged victorious on 77 seats.

    As per community’s estimate, there are nearly 40 seats in Gujarat where Patidar voters play a decisive role. These seats are scattered across rural as well as urban landscapes of the state.

    Though Patels account for nearly 18 per cent of Gujarat’s population, 44 Patidar MLAs were elected in 2017, which showed their influence on electoral politics in Gujarat.

    Some of the seats having high concentration of Patidar voters in Saurashtra region are Morbi, Tankara, Gondal, Dhoraji, Amreli, Savarkundla, Jetpur, Rajkot East, Rajkot West and Rajkot South.

    While Vijapur, Visnagar, Mehsana and Unjha seats in north Gujarat have considerable number of Patidar voters, at least five seats of Ahmedabad city – Ghatlodia, Sabarmati, Maninagar, Nikol and Naroda – are also considered Patel-dominated segments.

    In south Gujarat, several seats in Surat district are considered Patidar bastion, including Varachha, Kamrej, Katargam and Surat North.

    For the 2022 polls, the BJP had given tickets to 41 Patidars, one more than the Congress’s tally. The AAP had also given tickets to a significant number of members from the community.

    To keep the community happy, the saffron outfit had also declared that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be retained on the post after the elections.

    Ahead of the polls, the Jamnagar-based Sidsar Umiyadham Trust, which represents the Kadva Patidar sect, had demanded that the BJP field at least 50 Patidar candidates.

    AHMEDABAD: The Patidar community, a section of which had voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 Assembly polls held in the backdrop of the quota agitation in Gujarat, returned to the ruling outfit in the 2022 elections, helping it win most of the seats dominated by the influential social group.

    The BJP has done extremely well in the Patidar-dominated constituencies of the state, winning almost every seat that has significant Patel population.

    Polling for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly took place on December 1 and 5, and votes were counted on December 8.

    In the Saurashtra region, the Congress had won Patidar-dominated seats of Morbi, Tankara, Dhoraji and Amreli, among others in 2017. However, all these Assembly segments this time went in the BJP’s kitty.

    In Patidar-dominated Surat, where the AAP was banking on the community to bag a few seats, the social group by and large backed the ruling party. The saffron outfit won Patidar seats of Varachha Road, Katargam and Olpad with huge margins.

    In North Gujarat, the Congress had won Patidar-dominated Unjha seat five year ago, but this time it was wrested by the BJP. The BJP, ahead of the 2022 elections, reached out to the Patel community.

    The party replaced its Chief Minister Vijay Rupani with incumbent Bhupendra Patel in September 2021.

    The ruling outfit brought in Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel to its fold from the Congress and fielded him from the Viramgam Assembly seat from where he won by a handsome margin.

    ALSO READ| Gujarat: Clinching Viramgam seat in poll debut is no cakewalk for Patidar face Hardik Patel

    The biggest move of the BJP at the state and central level which placated the community was giving 10 per cent quota in jobs and education to the poor (economically weaker sections or EWS) among “upper castes”.

    The 2017 polls were fought in the shadow of Hardik Patel-led quota agitation launched to secure OBC status for the community. In the 2017 elections, despite setting an ambitious target of winning 150 out of the 182 seats, the BJP bagged just 99 seats.

    Thanks to the Patidar quota agitation and whirlwind campaign by Hardik Patel against the BJP, the opposition Congress had then emerged victorious on 77 seats.

    As per community’s estimate, there are nearly 40 seats in Gujarat where Patidar voters play a decisive role. These seats are scattered across rural as well as urban landscapes of the state.

    Though Patels account for nearly 18 per cent of Gujarat’s population, 44 Patidar MLAs were elected in 2017, which showed their influence on electoral politics in Gujarat.

    Some of the seats having high concentration of Patidar voters in Saurashtra region are Morbi, Tankara, Gondal, Dhoraji, Amreli, Savarkundla, Jetpur, Rajkot East, Rajkot West and Rajkot South.

    While Vijapur, Visnagar, Mehsana and Unjha seats in north Gujarat have considerable number of Patidar voters, at least five seats of Ahmedabad city – Ghatlodia, Sabarmati, Maninagar, Nikol and Naroda – are also considered Patel-dominated segments.

    In south Gujarat, several seats in Surat district are considered Patidar bastion, including Varachha, Kamrej, Katargam and Surat North.

    For the 2022 polls, the BJP had given tickets to 41 Patidars, one more than the Congress’s tally. The AAP had also given tickets to a significant number of members from the community.

    To keep the community happy, the saffron outfit had also declared that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be retained on the post after the elections.

    Ahead of the polls, the Jamnagar-based Sidsar Umiyadham Trust, which represents the Kadva Patidar sect, had demanded that the BJP field at least 50 Patidar candidates.

  • AAP banking on Patidars to power its foray into BJP-ruled Gujarat

    By PTI

    SURAT: “The ‘Babbar Sher’ (lion) has come, now no one else stands a chance here,” said a youngster as Alpesh Kathiriya, AAP candidate from the Varachha Road Assembly constituency, arrived at a residential colony here on a motorcycle with his supporters in tow.

    Kathiriya along with his supporters went from door to door chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and urging residents, many of whom came out of their houses after seeing his cavalcade, to vote for him in the upcoming state polls.

    “We are with you,” an elderly woman assured 28-year-old Kathiriya, who was a prominent leader of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat and earned the sobriquet ‘Babbar Sher’ for his aggressive and uncompromising stand on the issue.

    Kathiriya told PTI that the BJP has betrayed the Patidar community, which was once a staunch supporter of the saffron party.

    “During the 2017 Assembly polls, they (BJP) had promised that they would withdraw all cases filed against us but did not do so after returning to power. They betrayed us.”

    “Over 1,000 youths are still facing cases and keep appearing in one court after another as the cases were filed under various police station areas,” said Kathiriya, who has 20 cases, including two of sedition, lodged against him.

    The BJP has not only betrayed the Patidar community but also the people of Gujarat with its fake promises, he charged.

    The people of Gujarat are bearing the brunt of the price rise and unemployment but the BJP’s “corrupt” government remains indifferent to their plight, he added.

    The BJP-led state government’s action against Patidar youths in 2015 turned many against the party.

    As many as 14 Patidar youths were killed in police action during the agitation and PAAS leaders were slapped with several cases.

    Kathiriya rose into prominence among the youth of his community after Hardik Patel, who spearheaded the Patidar quota agitation and was a vocal critic of the BJP, joined the ruling party in Gujarat in June this year.

    Kathiriya, who joined AAP last month, took over as the convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) after Patel joined the Congress in 2019.

    PAAS had organised agitations across Gujarat demanding Other Backward Class (OBC) status and reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the youth of the Patidar community.

    “People are fed up with the BJP regime and want a change. Seeing the current scenario, I felt that I must enter active politics to bring a change and I decided to join the Aam Aadmi Party as it practices politics of honesty and work. It does what it says,” Kathiriya said.

    “If the AAP is voted to power, our party’s government will withdraw all the cases lodged against those who took part in the 2015 quota stir. It will also fulfil all the promises made to the public,” he asserted.

    The AAP has promised to provide free electricity up to 300 units, healthcare facilities and a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to every woman aged above 18, among other things, if it is voted to power in Gujarat.

    The Varachha Road Assembly segment is dominated by Patidars. Members of the community constitute almost 70 per cent of the 2.19 lakh voters in the constituency.

    However, some locals feel that the numbers alone cannot guarantee Kathiriya’s victory.

    “Alpesh is very popular here, especially among the youngsters, because of his selfless work and dynamism. He is always available for those in need. But he will not get the full support of the community,” Praful Patel, a Patidar and a textile businessman, told PTI.

    He will put up a tough fight but eventually the BJP will win as its government has done “a lot of work” in Surat, he said.

    “The Congress is nowhere in this constituency. It’s a BJP stronghold,” he added.

    Patel admits that the AAP’s pre-poll promises have caught the fancy of many voters.

    “Many think that free healthcare services will help them save money, especially when it comes to providing treatment to the elders in their families,” he said.

    Polling in Varachha will be held in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections on December 1.

    SURAT: “The ‘Babbar Sher’ (lion) has come, now no one else stands a chance here,” said a youngster as Alpesh Kathiriya, AAP candidate from the Varachha Road Assembly constituency, arrived at a residential colony here on a motorcycle with his supporters in tow.

    Kathiriya along with his supporters went from door to door chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and urging residents, many of whom came out of their houses after seeing his cavalcade, to vote for him in the upcoming state polls.

    “We are with you,” an elderly woman assured 28-year-old Kathiriya, who was a prominent leader of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat and earned the sobriquet ‘Babbar Sher’ for his aggressive and uncompromising stand on the issue.

    Kathiriya told PTI that the BJP has betrayed the Patidar community, which was once a staunch supporter of the saffron party.

    “During the 2017 Assembly polls, they (BJP) had promised that they would withdraw all cases filed against us but did not do so after returning to power. They betrayed us.”

    “Over 1,000 youths are still facing cases and keep appearing in one court after another as the cases were filed under various police station areas,” said Kathiriya, who has 20 cases, including two of sedition, lodged against him.

    The BJP has not only betrayed the Patidar community but also the people of Gujarat with its fake promises, he charged.

    The people of Gujarat are bearing the brunt of the price rise and unemployment but the BJP’s “corrupt” government remains indifferent to their plight, he added.

    The BJP-led state government’s action against Patidar youths in 2015 turned many against the party.

    As many as 14 Patidar youths were killed in police action during the agitation and PAAS leaders were slapped with several cases.

    Kathiriya rose into prominence among the youth of his community after Hardik Patel, who spearheaded the Patidar quota agitation and was a vocal critic of the BJP, joined the ruling party in Gujarat in June this year.

    Kathiriya, who joined AAP last month, took over as the convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) after Patel joined the Congress in 2019.

    PAAS had organised agitations across Gujarat demanding Other Backward Class (OBC) status and reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the youth of the Patidar community.

    “People are fed up with the BJP regime and want a change. Seeing the current scenario, I felt that I must enter active politics to bring a change and I decided to join the Aam Aadmi Party as it practices politics of honesty and work. It does what it says,” Kathiriya said.

    “If the AAP is voted to power, our party’s government will withdraw all the cases lodged against those who took part in the 2015 quota stir. It will also fulfil all the promises made to the public,” he asserted.

    The AAP has promised to provide free electricity up to 300 units, healthcare facilities and a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to every woman aged above 18, among other things, if it is voted to power in Gujarat.

    The Varachha Road Assembly segment is dominated by Patidars. Members of the community constitute almost 70 per cent of the 2.19 lakh voters in the constituency.

    However, some locals feel that the numbers alone cannot guarantee Kathiriya’s victory.

    “Alpesh is very popular here, especially among the youngsters, because of his selfless work and dynamism. He is always available for those in need. But he will not get the full support of the community,” Praful Patel, a Patidar and a textile businessman, told PTI.

    He will put up a tough fight but eventually the BJP will win as its government has done “a lot of work” in Surat, he said.

    “The Congress is nowhere in this constituency. It’s a BJP stronghold,” he added.

    Patel admits that the AAP’s pre-poll promises have caught the fancy of many voters.

    “Many think that free healthcare services will help them save money, especially when it comes to providing treatment to the elders in their families,” he said.

    Polling in Varachha will be held in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections on December 1.