Hardik will remain in exile in Udaipur for next 6 months

Based on these judgments, Hardik was released from the jail on Friday.

Speaking to reporters after a mega road-show throughout the city, Hardik, who was released from prison on Friday said he wanted reservations for Patidar/Patel community under OBC quota and not under the Economically Backward Class (EBC) category. Hardik was taken by the supporters to lead the massive road show organised in Surat city, where Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel is also expected to unveil several development projects.

On July 8, the Gujarat High Court had granted him bail in two sedition cases, but it had directed him to stay out of the state for the next six months. With eyes on the 2017 assembly elections, when Patidars-the BJP’s most-trusted vote bank-are angry with the party, Hardik’s emergence has made him a means for other political players to woo the community that constitutes around 12 to 14 per cent of total 6 crore Gujaratis.

His bail was approved on the condition that he stays out of Gujarat for six months, and for three months after that in another case. Hardik was arrested a year ago in connection with two sedition cases pertaining to Patidar quota stir and a case of violence at Visnagar law maker’s office.

Hardik will have to leave Gujarat in the next 48 hours.

Hardik Patel has been released nine months after he was arrested for sedition.

“This agitation is not a property of any political party”.

Stepping out of the jail after getting bail, 22-year-old Hardik asserted he would continue his agitation to get reservation for his community under the OBC quota and hinted at taking the struggle to the national level by involving the Kurmi community, which the Patels consider as their off-shoot. “We may also sit with government to solve this issue”, he said. Patel community believes in non-violence.

He had been in jail since October previous year, when he was detained on sedition charges.

Patel’s arrest was followed by large-scale arson and violence by his supporters in some of Gujarat’s biggest towns. The Patidar community, to which Hardik belongs, is numerically strong in the state with 18% population.

When asked whether he will go to Uttar Pradesh for campaigning against BJP, Patel, who is staying in the house of a former Congress MLA here, said that he would not do so.