On returning to Gujarat after a six-month exile, Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, vowing to work against the State government over “injustice” to his community.
Mr. Patel (23) returned after spending six months in Udaipur in Rajasthan as part of the condition imposed by the High Court, which had granted him bail in two sedition cases slapped by the Gujarat police after he spearheaded a violent agitation, demanding OBC quotas.
“You wear ₹2 lakh suit and then call yourself Gandhi. People have seen your true face now,” Mr. Patel said while addressing supporters in Himatnagar.
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He alleged that the State BJP government had failed to create jobs for the youth and had created a sense of fear in the public. “If you don’t give us reservation, we will snatch it. The youth of Gujarat have woken up after 20 years of suffocation. We will not take injustice any more,” Mr. Patel said.
“I have only two main aims now. First, to get reservation rights for Patels at any cost. Secondly, I want to free you from this rule of fear prevailing in the State,” he said