Gujarat’s Patel community doesn’t need quota
The immediate task before the Anandiben Patel Government in Gujarat is to contain the sudden burst of violence in connection with the agitation the Patel community has launched, demanding reservations. The Government has admittedly moved fast, calling in the Army to stamp out the unrest on the streets in the State's major cities within hours of the crisis breaking out. Unfortunately, precious lives have been lost and public property worth several crores of rupees has been damaged. It is to be hoped that the situation does not escalate any further.
Ms Patel will have to reach out to the saner elements among the agitationists and find a way out of the crisis. Her Government's response must be both firm when it comes to maintaining law and order and flexible when it relates to dealing with the leaders of the protest movement who understand the futility of violence and are willing to discuss matters across the table. Having said this, the demand by the Patel community in Gujarat, for reservations in employment and education, cannot be supported.
In the first place, the Patels were the most prominent members in the eighties to protest against the reservation policy for the Other Backward Classes on primarily two grounds: Reservations deprived merited students from the non-reserved categories from getting a break; and many of the OBCs were actually well off enough not to deserve the benefits of the quota system.
The second point is that the Patel community in Gujarat is well placed, both socially and economically. Its influence and considerable presence extends from politics to business to social hierarchies. By no stretch of imagination can the Patels (or the Patidars) be considered deprived or in need of any affirmative social action such as reservations. It is possible that some enterprises that the community members have traditionally been engaged in, have seen a slump in recent years, leading to their discontent. It is also possible that they feel left out (despite comprising 14 per cent of the State's population) as more and more groups across the country either get added to the OBC list or are promised the prospect. But nothing justifies their violent agitation.
Is the protest movement, including the recent public rally in Ahmedabad which reportedly saw a turnout of more than two lakh people, confined to the demands of the Patel community or does it have political connotations which target the BJP regime in the StateIJ It is difficult to believe that a 21-year old unknown (one Hardik Patel) can, on his own, organise a massive gathering and arouse public sentiments to a level that results in mayhem and violence across Gujarat. This belief gets further strengthened by Mr Hardik Patel's warning to the BJP that it will be taught a lesson in the 2017 Assembly election if the State regime does not submit to his demand.
From accounts so far, he does not appear to understand the gravity of situation he has unleashed, and is more intent on basking in the glory of media attention — even going to the silly extent of saying that all communities should get the quota benefit! Unfortunately, certain rivals of the BJP have been quick to lend their support to his cause. The BJP's and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's opponents should not add fuel to fire.