The Gujarat police have deployed heavy security and mobile-based internet services have been suspended in Rajkot where the India and South Africa are set to play their third one-day match amidst threats by the Patidar community to block the teams from reaching the venue and disrupt the match.
Hardik Patel, leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) said thousands of Patel youths wearing special T-shirts with Jay Sardar logo will gather near the stadium in the outskirts of the city to demand reservation for the Patel community.
"We have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure that no disturbance is created during the international cricket match," said minister of the state for home Mr Rajni Patel.
"Around 2000 policemen including the State reserved police teams have been deployed in Rajkot city and around the stadium. There will be five superintendent of police (SP), more than 50 deputy SP, over 100 police inspector (PI) to monitor and lead the security arrangements," said a top police official from Rajkot.
Rajkot district administration issued a notification suspending mobile based Internet services in Rajkot Sunday evening in a bid to "prevent rumours bulk messages from social media platforms."
The police have also set up check points on the highways to check mobilisation of the Patels from other cities in Rajkot.
"Our members will block the main routes from where the team members will be pass through. We will hold the peaceful protest and cordon off the stadium because the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) has given away all tickets to the BJP workers so that we could not buy the tickets and watch the match from the stadium," Mr Hardik Patel said.
According to sources, top leaders of the BJP have bought thousands of tickets in bulk for its workers so that the Patel members could not buy tickets as they would stage some protest inside the stadium during the match.
On Friday, SCA announced that all tickets were sold, prompting the cricket fans to create ruckus at the ticket windows. "We wanted to see the match but all of a sudden, the SCA announced that the tickets were sold out," said angry Rajesh Kotecha, who could not get ticket.
However, the SCA president Niranjan Shah denied that the administration sold tickets in bulk to block Patels from buying tickets. "We have limited capacity and all tickets were sold in two days so we had to close the windows," Mr Shah said.
This time, the administration had taken photograph of each person who bought the ticket and entry into the stadium will be based on identity card. "We had to be careful because of some elements who gave us threat to disrupt the match," Mr Shah added.
