Cops arrests agitating Patel Community leader Hardik Patel

Top police officials, including city commissioner Shivanand Jha and others, personally supervised the security arrangements during the mega rally with instructions to the force to exercise “restraint”, even as Patel appealed to his followers to maintain peace at all costs. “I think the government should consider his demand”.

A giant contingent of police stormed the GMDC floor right here to disperse the gang supporting Patel and three others who sat on a starvation strike after the huge rally, demanding that Chief Minister Anandiben Patel herself ought to come there and settle for their memorandum. Rumours have suggested that the agitation has also been directly aimed at unsettling the chief minister, who doesn’t command the kind of support Modi managed to do within the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“If you do not give our right (reservation), we will snatch it. Whoever will talk of interest of Patels will rule over Patels”, he said. Today, the US alone is home to as many as 145,000 Patels, who have come to dominate the country’s motel business.

“We told them that our doors are open if they want to discuss about what this government can do for them”.

Clashes between Patel community members and local residents were also reported from Vadaj, Vastrapur, Nikol and Paldi areas when they allegedly tried to enforce a bandh called by the agitating outfit.

Two months ago, few had heard of Hardik Patel, a 22-year-old youth belonging to a middle class family from Viramgam town in Ahmedabad district, but now he has become a household name in Gujarat with his agitation seeking reservation benefits for the Patels, a politically and economically powerful community, galvanising the entire community.

A member of the Patel community holding a mock scratch plough shouts slogans during a protest rally in Ahmedabad, India, August 25, 2015.

A bus was set on hearth at Bhuyangdev in Ghatlodia space, which has a big Patel inhabitants, and one other at Krushnanagar space of Naroda, stated hearth brigade officers.

The movement is particularly unnerving for chief minister Anandiben Patel, who took over from former CM Narendra Modi when he left for Delhi after a successful campaign for the prime ministership. However, turning the tables on the police, Patel today claimed that the rally is very much on their agenda.

Early on Wednesday, mob violence continued in parts of Gujarat, as Patel community members continued to press their demand for reservations.

“We are fighting for our right. Chandrababu Naidu is ours”, he said.