AGENCIES
Ahmedabad, Nov 22: Patidar leader Hardik Patel has offered to support the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly elections after it promised to give job quotas to the Patel community under the OBC category in Gujarat.
Hardik Patel made the much awaited announcement on behalf of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) at a crowded press conference here Wednesday, and said that PAAS was formally accepting the “workable formula” advanced by the Congress.
“The Congress has accepted our demand for reservations with a formula that provides us OBC benefits without disturbing the 49 per cent quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs,” Patel said. “We are accepting the formula given to us by the Congress, he added.”
Flanked by other leaders of the PAAS, which has been campaigning for job quotas for the Patels, Hardik Patel brushed aside allegations by the BJP that he was “a Congress agent”.
“The Congress has accepted our demands though it is in the opposition and has promised to include it in its manifesto,” he said. “The BJP tortured our youth and slapped false cases, including sedition. So there is nothing wrong in supporting the Congress. Let the BJP call me a Congress agent. I am nobody’s agent, except the people. The BJP doesn’t own Gujarat, it belongs to six crore Gujaratis.”
Hardik Patel said the Congress had said that if it won the Gujarat elections, it would pass a proposal for reservations under Articles 31-C and 46 of the Constitution.
Hardik also said that there were no differences with the Congress over seat-sharing. “We had not demanded any seats, but we had asked the Congress to field candidates of our community,” he said. Asked what will he do about PAAS members who have filed papers to contest elections, Hardik said that they will no longer be members of the organisation.
He insisted that the Constitution nowhere said more than 50 per cent reservations could not be given. “The Supreme Court has only given suggestions. There is neither any law nor provision in the Constitution.” He said the state government would talk to all the stakeholders and set up a separate commission.
“The Congress has promised that a survey would be carried out in the Patel and other forward communities as per the provisions of the OBC Commission and on this basis parameters would be decided to extend reservation to Patels and other forward communities,” Patel said.
He claimed that since 1994, many states, including Gujarat, had given quotas beyond 50 per cent and in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka reservations have been in existence for 15 to 17 years.
Patel said he was accepting the formula not just on behalf of PAAS but after speaking to other community leaders and religious organisations, the Khodaldham and Umiyadham. However, the heads of both these bodies denied having received details of the Congress formula.
“I expect to receive the formula Wednesday and then we will get it verified by Constitutional lawyers and announce our stance,” Paresh Gajera, head of Khodaldham Trust, said. “We are apolitical. We believe that reservations must be given to Patels as 60 per cent of them are poor.”
The Chairperson of Unjha Umiyadham Trust, Vikram Patel, said that Hardik Patel was lying.
The reservation formula offered by the Congress to Patidars is a “big joke”, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Wednesday, and accused Hardik Patel of misguiding the community. Nitin said any quota in government jobs and educational institutions exceeding the 50 per cent cap put by the Supreme Court is something “offered by fools and accepted by fools.”
Congress leader Kapil Sibal has thanked Patidar leader Hardik Patel for declaring his support to the party in the Gujarat Assembly polls after it accepted the community’s quota demand.
Sibal, however, held his cards close to his chest when asked about the formula the Congress and the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) have worked out on quotas, and added that the related issues would be decided later.
He also made light of Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel’s comment that the Congress’ suggestion would not hold ground Constitutionally and that it would be used only to garner votes.
“They have got nothing to do with the Constitution which they have never followed. Gujarat symbolises it. So, the less they talk about the Constitution, better it is,” he added.