Panchayat Polls Postponed in Gujarat For Fear of Hardik Patel

NEW DELHI: Patidar leader Hardik Patel seems to have worried the Gujarat government to a point where it has issued an Ordinance to postpone the panchayat polls. The state Election Commission informed the Gujarat High Court that a “caste-war kind of situation” prevails in the state.

The Gujarat government is clearly worried about the Hardik Patel factor, more so as the 22 year old has refused to go on to the back burner despite talks, as well as threat of action against him and his supporters. In fact, Patel has joined direct issue with BJP president Amit Shah in his hometown Ahmedabad and said recently that “sources” had told him that Shah had been entrusted with the authority to mediate for the government. Hardik Patel then said, “since we will not end the stir merely on his request, we know that he will use other tactics and force our movement to finish. So I have issued that open message asking him to stay away.”

He went on to state, “even if you kill me, thousand other Hardiks will rise. Try to accept our demands and give us justice. Otherwise, do whatever you can do." Patel has been moving through the state maintaining that he is being prevented from holding public meetings because of the BJP. The state chief minister has intervened to prevent these meetings, with an attempt to arrest him a few weeks ago resulting in violence across the state.

The State Election Commission, appearing before the court, admitted that pro-quota protests had been sparked off by the Patidar agitation and elections now would mean that no one would cast their votes. “A sort of caste-war kind of situation is building up in the state,” counsel Mihir Thakore said, citing police and civil administration reports.

Responding to this, ACJ Patel said: “Keep in mind that you are an independent commission, neither controlled by the state government or anyone else… It is as if you have decided to postpone the elections. You are proceeding like that only… Your privilege should be exercised for furtherance of democracy and not for dilution of the principles of election.”

Congress leaders have attacked the state government for this decision, maintaining defeat was staring the BJP in the face and this was the one reason why it had postponed the polls.

Hardik Patel is back in action again with Whatsapp messages directing Amit Shah to stay away. A recent photograph bears the instruction “share maximum.”

Basically this is a warning that Hardik Patel should not be hurt, and if anything happened to him the repercussion would be felt in Delhi.