At Hardik Patel’s Rally in Amreli, Patidars Say ‘Yes’ to Congress

Weeks after Patidar leader Hardik Patel backed the Congress for the upcoming Gujarat polls, his supporters at an Amreli rally on Wednesday, 6 December, said they will all “vote for the Congress as they all are united by the Patidar factor.”

When asked about the Congress’ promise of reservation for the community, one of the formidable factors that weaned Patel towards the party, most supporters said they believed that ‘anamat’ would be given, should the party come to power.

But reservation alone hasn’t pitched the Patidars, traditionally one of the BJP’s strongest supporters, into its prime electoral spoiler. Supporters say 22 years of uninterrupted BJP rule in the state hasn’t improved the livelihoods of farmers.

Farmers don’t get a fair price on their crops, besides being plagued by infrastructural disorders such as water and electricity. “BJP is only good at making promises, not fulfilling them,” rues a man outside the venue.

He says the BJP government has failed to bring development to small towns.

Apart from its failure to usher in development, Patidars also remember the BJP, for several atrocities committed against the community’s youth.

The beating of Patidar youths in Una last year remains a painful memory. We can never forget that incident. 

Patidar Supporter

Hardik Patel has being drawing a large mix of onlookers at many of his rallies, most notably his road show in Surat on 3 November. The spike in the number of those attending his rallies have variously been labelled by the ruling BJP as ‘paid supporters’ .

But Hardik’s supporters insist they’ve not been been paid and have come to the venue on their own.

BJP supporters in my village accuse me of being a paid supporter of Hardik. But all of us have come here to support him. Some of us have come in our own vehicles. No one among us has been paid. 

Patidar Supporter

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

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