Pulling A Fast One

How the BJP handles Hardik Patel will define its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

- Nandini Oza

FOR THE BJP, the 2017 assembly elections in Gujarat were a wake-up call. The party, which has been in power in the state since 1995, was reduced to 99 seats, from the 115 it was holding in the 182-member assembly. The Patidar factor is believed to have played an important role in the outcome, as Hardik Patel had openly asked his community to vote against the BJP.

Since 2015, when he rose to prominence as the leader of the agitation demanding reservation for Patidars, Hardik has been a thorn in the BJP’s side. And with the 2019 general elections approaching, he launched an indefinite fast for Patidar reservation and farm loan waiver.

Support has been pouring in for Hardik ever since he began his fast on August 25. Patel youth in various villages and small towns across Gujarat sat on token hunger fasts and many of them shaved their heads as a mark of solidarity. Trinamool Congress leader and former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda and activists-turned-MLAs Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakor were among the politicians who called on Hardik. Several opposition leaders also took to social media to extend their support. Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to intervene to save Hardik’s life. He appealed to Modi to set up a commission to look into the issue of reservation for Patidars.