Hardik Patel Set to Disappear as Suddenly as He Appeared

NEW DELHI: Gujarat’s Hardik Patel’s fire and brimstone agitation has fizzled out as suddenly as it erupted. The Patel leder has sunk into a law abiding citizen who has postponed his threatened agitation not once but twice. First because he had not got the state government’s permission, and now because he would like to wait for the promised talks by the government.

"Senior Gujarat cabinet minister Saurabh Patel has invited us for talks at 12:30 pm on Monday. He promised that if there is no solution till 7:30 in the evening, then we will take out the march on Tuesday," Patel said at a late night press conference.

"This is not a dilution of our stand but a decision taken in the interest of law and order in the state," he insisted although it is clear that the talks will give him a face saver to postpone the agitation until it fades from public memory.

The government that had been unable to quell the Patel’s agitation that broke into violence in several major cities of Gujarat, has got the upper hand now. The Citizen had been the first to point out that the decision by Patel to postpone the rally came just after the rapprochement conclave between the RSS and the BJP where both agreed to work together, and the RSS was clearly visible in the driving seat.

Reports from the state even at the height of Patel’s agitation had suggested that he was being supported by the RSS and its affiliates although he kept denying this. However, in an interview to The Citizen he reiterated the hard right ideology in stating that India was for the Hindus, and Muslims could live here if they behaved like former President APJ Abdul Kalam, but would be taken care of if they behaved like Dawood Ibrahim. In his scheme of things, the minorities fell between these two stones, very much the monolith that the extreme right has been painting them to be.

Patel had sought the Gujarat government's permission to hold the march from Dandi to Ahmedabad, calling for the inclusion of the Patel community in other backward classes or OBC category for reservations.

His sudden rise and ability to ‘rouse’ the masses as it were did not convince political leaders, many are not willing to readily swallow his “I have risen on my own” assertion. Speculators have raised the curious coincidence between the postponement of his rally and the BJP-RSS truce. had again raised speculation about the links that have not been confirmed, but remain in the public realm.

Photographs of Patel and Vishwa Hindu Parishad hardliner Pravin Togadia emerged leading the latter to formally distance himself from the young man. Togadia insisted he had nothing to do with Patel, and had met him at one point like he met many others. Patel himself has been attacking both the BJP and the Congress with rumours also linking him to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal at one point. These were dispelled quickly, apparently rising from the fact that Patel had been the driver for Kejriwal during one of his visits to Gujarat. Or so it is believed.

So in a political landscape now driven by rumours, the postponement of the rally is not being seen as innocent. Patel had declared that he will go ahead with the yatra, with or without permission from the state government, but now again he has postponed it saying that he will wait for the talks.

Patel is also being attacked on the social media with sex video clips asking whether the protagonist is Hardik Patel being circulated. The state government is not dignifying his statements with a response, with Hardik Patel set to disappear as suddenly as he appeared.