The Mortal Caste Combat In Gujarat

BY R.K.MISRA

A no-holds barred battle  is on the cards in Gujarat as the ruling BJP gets  down to defend it’s Congress besieged turf in the Vidhan Sabha elections slated to be held in just over a week from now . 

Polling is due on December 9 and 14 with results to be declared along with the Himachal Pradesh contest on December 18.

This is the first  Assembly elections being fought by the ruling BJP in Gujarat after Narendra Modi, it’s longest serving  chief minister left for Delhi to take over as Prime Minister in 2014 after having ruled the state  for a record 4610 days  through three Vidhan Sabha elections since 2001.

Battling a debilitating ‘hangover’ of the Modi-era which reduced those who succeeded him -Anandiben Patel and the present incumbent Vijay Rupani-to lilliputs, their  problems have been further compounded by burgeoning anti-incumbency. Adding salt to sore wounds is that the BJP which has been ruling Gujarat for over two decades ,this time also faces a triad of three caste champion youth leaders who by their sheer conflict with the state government, have become a force multiplier for the rival Congress.

Interestingly all three- Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore  and Jignesh Mevani- are more or less creation of BJP’s internal strife but have now acquired a standing that is proving a challenge to the ruling party. Patel’s dominant emergence was the result of the tussle between two of Modi’s closest lieutenants, the then chief minister Anandiben Patel and party chief Amit Shah. OBC leader Alpesh Thakore owes much to deputy chief minister Nitin Patel until he broke loose and ultimately joined the Congress recently. Dalit leader Mevani is a product of sustained government neglect of dalit exploitation which came to a head in the Una lynching of four dalit youth in july last year for skinning a dead cow. The episode created a national furore and cost Anandiben Patel her chief ministership.

Hardik Patel, convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti(PAAS) has emerged as a festering boil in the armpit of the BJP with his demand for reservation to the community in educational institutions and government jobs.The Anandiben  and later Rupani government have tried everything in their armoury to contain the patidar youth leader and his ever increasing following amongst the community youth and womenfolk but in vain.

Hardik has been twice charged with sedition, creating disaffection amongst communities and even attempting to subvert a lawfully elected government but to no avail. He was ordered out of Gujarat for six months under court orders and returned at the end of it to a larger following. Under pressure, the BJP government had even introduced 10% quota for economically weaker sections on May 1 last year through promulgation of an Ordinance. It was challenged in the High Court, which, on August 8, struck it down. The issue was  thus again in the open with Hardik sticking to his guns that he would not mind  supporting the Congress if it was able to convince  them that it would work to get  reservation for the community, if it came to power.

The Congress, on it’s part, has put it’s best legal brains to work and come up with a formula that was placed before PAAS representatives at a specially convened meeting by legal eagle Kapil Sibal. PAAS  evaluated the proposal through it’ s own legal advisors and on November 22,Hardik announced that PAAS has accepted the formula and will support the Congress in the ensuing elections .Prima facie, it is believed, that the PAAS sees it as their best bet in the given circumstances.

The formula which will also cover other communities not covered in the existing quota and entails providing of benefits for reservations under article 31(c) and Article 46 of the Constitution without altering the current 49 per cent quota for SC/ST and OBC categories. ’Reservation over 50 per cent can be given. The Supreme Court has only given suggestions, there is no law nor constitutional provision that mandates against reservation over 50 per cent”, he added.

Quoting the formula advanced by the congress, Hardik said that it has committed that the communities mentioned in article 46 who have not received any benefits under article 15(4) and Article 16(4),would be provided all the benefits made available to the OBC category.”If the Congress comes to power in the state, it will either create a special category or evolve a nomenclature.”They will have to put their formula in their manifesto and will be held accountable for it”, he added.

The decision comes as a setback to the ruling BJP. Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel’s reaction to the news almost bordered on hysteria. “Fools have given a formula and fools have accepted it,” he said. At his fulminating best, Nitin Patel launched into a virtual diatribe against Hardik betraying the panic in the BJP camp.

Legalities of the new reservation issue apart, the fact remains that patidars in Gujarat constitute a very strong,influential and economically welded caste grouping. After  the then Congress chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki  created the KHAM(Kshatriya, harijan, adivasi, muslim) caste formation to win a record 149 of the total 182 seats in 1985,the patels choose to cast their lot with the BJP ensuring their steady rise in the state’s power structure. Except for a 16 month break when their senior  leader Shankersinh Vaghela broke free to form his own regional outfit and come to power with Congress support, it has been BJP all the way in the saddle all along. Congress was last elected to power in 1985 which is 32 years ago. In the period thereafter Patels were said to have switched over to the BJP. If Hardik and his caste mates switch sides to the Congress what would be the loss to the BJP?

Patels constitute 14 per cent of the total 63 million population of Gujarat and 21 per cent of it’s voter population. Anandiben Patel,the first lady chief minister of Gujarat was of patidar stock and the BJP party chief of the time R.C.Fardu was also a patel. Seven of the 24 ministers in her cabinet were patidars and 42 of the total 182 legislators were from the same community.

It was in this backdrop that when sedition cases were filed against Hardik, the community in 2015 decided to provide a glimpse of their power by switching sides to a kshatriya dominated Congress(state party chief Bharatsinh Solanki,legislature party leader Shankersinh Vaghela and frontline leader Shaktisinh Gohil) in the local self government elections. Though the BJP managed to retain all the six municipal corporations-albeit with a whittled down majority, the Congress swept the taluka and district panchayats, bagging 132 and 23 against the 39 and one they held before it. The BJP which controlled 30 of the 31 district panchayats in the state in 2010 were down to six and in taluka panchayats were down from 190 to 73.

It is this  that provides a clue to why the Congress is desperate to gain the support of the Hardik led patidar youth. Also why the BJP is working overtime to corrode the credibility of Hardik who has acquired a cult figure status amongst patidar youth. Two purported sex CDs claimed to be that of hardik, have hit the social media in quick succession.”There are 52 such CDs, commissioned by the BJP abroad  under instructions of chief minister Rupani and state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani” alleged PAAS at a media conference. Both Hardik and Congress allege it to be the handiwork of a desperate BJP.”Such CDs won’ t deter me from my mission which is to get reservation for my clansfolk. Iam prepared to consort with the devil for it”, he adds.

Meanwhile Hardik has appealed through a CD in mass circulation to uproot the BJP lock, stock and barrel from power. His rallies have been attracting larger crowds than the prime minister and the congress vice-chief. 

Thus it is that caste issues have become a vital nut of a larger political machine holding the key to power in the state.









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