Ahead of high profile visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japan counterpart Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tension gripped Gujarat's Diamond city where youth BJP workers and Patidar agitation activists clashed that led to rioting in Patidar dominated Varachha area of the city.
Following the clashes, a mob torched BRTS buses while several bus stands were vandalised as the police detained Patidar agitation activists.
Totally four buses were torched and 14 Patidar agitation leaders were arrested.
The members of Patidar community set two buses on fire in Varachha area of Surat after cops detained their community members for disrupting a BJP Yuva Morcha rally.
The Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel has threatened to intensify the agitation if the arrested youth were not released immediately.
The tussle between the youth BJP workers and Patidars began when a few Patidars tried to disrupt a Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha event in the city.
As soon as the the workers were detained by the cops, a huge crowd gathered in the area where two buses were set on fire and heavy stone pelting was witnessed.
Following the youths' detention, Hardik Patel sent out a threatening tweet. "If the youth aren't released at the earliest, then Gujarat will witness a revolution," Patel said in a tweet posted in Gujarati.
According to sources from Surat, the protests intensified after Gujarat youth BJP President Rutvij Patel arrived at the event where hundreds of Patidar youngsters were protesting. To control the protesting crowd,Surat Police resorted to lathi-charging the Patidar protesters.
Subsequently, cops detained more than 20 members of the Patel community, which seems to have furthered angered the Patidars, who are on warpath with the ruling BJP in the state.
