Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel returned to Gujarat after 6 months today. (File)
Activist Hardik Patel began his journey home to Gujarat today with a full-blown attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the khadi calendar row and vowed to renew the Patidar or Patel agitation for reservation in government jobs and colleges. The 23-year-old was granted bail in a sedition case last year on the condition that he would stay out of Gujarat for six months. That deadline ends today.
"You wear a two lakh-rupee suit and call yourself Gandhi... you can't sit on the charkha and call yourself Gandhi," Mr Patel said, attacking Prime Minister Modi over this year's Khadi Village Industries Commission calendars which feature the Prime Minister instead of Mahatma Gandhi. Opposition parties have called it sacriligious. The Modi government says it is an "unnecessary controversy."
Hardik Patel has vowed to ensure the defeat of the ruling BJP in Gujarat - PM Modi's home state, where assembly elections will be held later this year. Mr Patel, who drove into Gujarat across the border with Rajasthan earlier today, accuses the BJP of betraying the Patels, a powerful community that had faithfully backed the party.
"I don't care about cases against me, but firmly demand reservation," Hardik Patel said, adding, "We will oppose the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls. We will campaign and stand with parties that support us."
The activist will be escorted by a cavalcade of about 500 cars to Himmatnagar, 90 km from Ahmedabad, where he will hold a public rally. "About a lakh workers have been asked to assemble at Ratanpur and Himmatnagar to welcome Hardik. He will then spell out the future course of action.'' said Varun Patel, a leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.
His return to Gujarat is being keenly watched by political parties. Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, which makes its debut in Gujarat in this year's elections, has been seeking Patel support; Mr Kejriwal has called Hardik Patel a "patriot".
Last month Hardik Patel met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna and is said to have discussed a joint campaign against the BJP. Mr Kumar has since conveyed his inability to join Hardik at a massive homecoming rally he plans on January 25 in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
Nitish Kumar has said he is busy campaigning for his party the Janata Dal (United) in states where elections will be held next month.
After challenging the BJP-led government in Gujarat at the head of a massive 45-day Patel agitation, Hardik Patel was arrested in August 2015 when a rally he had called triggered violence across the state that killed at least 12 people. The Gujarat police later charged him with sedition and Hardik Patel was in jail in Surat for nine months before he was granted bail.