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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