Hardik Patel -Shrewd and Sharp. Hardik patel son of a BJP functionary, one point of time close to VHP, turned founder of Patel community front, turned AAP supporter, turned Patel politician at 22 is not a novice.
At his big rally yesterday he chose to speak in Hindi to all his Gujarati followers, not in Gujarati. He says from Bihar, Nitish Kumar to Chandrababu naidu in Andhra Pradesh all are his patel brothers ( Land holding class) and don't underestimate the 118 MPs (?) they represent in parliament. He is bang on the issue, at a time when the land bill and farmer's rights are dominating national politics, he lay down a grand political narrative, a front for larger farmer unity across the nation- a vacuum existed for long time. Considering his assertion to take this fight to Delhi streets and considering Anna Hazare has proposed to start Dharna from September on land bill issue , we can expect a larger scheme of things getting unleashed in the days to come in Indian politics.
The other important narrative he is banking on, the one that precipitated the present crisis in Gujarat: the non representation of farmers and small scale entrepreneurs in the new economic model spearheaded by both UPA and Modi government, a heartburn that has been hopelessly languishing in the minds of rural and semi urban people, now has reached to an explosive stage.
AAP encashed the SMEs in urban India and Hardik patel now grabs the other.
The current demand of reservation by patel community explains this narrative very well. A community that are largely engaged in Agriculture and SMEs that one point of time decided the economic and political fate of Gujarat, but with the Globalisation under UPA and industrial model followed by Modi, found slowly but steadily getting alienated from their dominant positions. Patel community found that in this new economic model, their skillsets - agriculture and SMEs are not relevant anymore. They realised the education and employment plays the greater role in this new economic dispensation. The decision to eliminate english education from government schools of Gujarat by pre- Modi governments have only accentuated the problem including the difficulty of employability outside Gujarat. The root cause for Patel reservation demand emanate from this reality, so are from across the country.
It is a systemic failure of our economic model where larger population of rural and semi urban population are denied their stake in country's progress and development where employability or income generation capacity linked only to the academic qualifications and that too in English. Hardik Patel now is cashing on this lacuna. He may or may not be a character of valor, but the narrative he is cashing on are powerful and certainly have the capacity to make inroads to all parts of this country like a wildfire. Political and intellectual class should not confuse it with 50% or 65% reservation issues of numbers. It is much larger and deeper issue of our economic model: Development without growth, where people's stakes are stifled and contrived.
If he plays the card well, it's look like he is playing card very well thought out and strategically, he and his cause is going to impact not only the Gujarat but the National politics in a Big way, especially when a fellow Gujarati is at the helm of affairs.
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