Even as legal woes continue for firebrand Congress leader Hardik Patel and he has gone missing for nearly a month now, support has poured in from close aides and former allies.
The twenty-six-year-old leader had spearheaded the quota stir for the Patidars in Gujarat. The agitation was seen as instrumental in the resignation of then chief minister Anandiben Patel. It was alleged that she could not handle well the Patidar quota stir.
Hardik’s close associate in Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Reshma Patel, who is now an NCP leader, told THE WEEK that the government should stop harassing Hardik in the notion that he is alone.
At a programme organized by the PAAS two days ago, Hardik's wife Kinjal said her husband had been untraceable since January 18 when he was arrested in connection with a sedition case filed against him in 2015. The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him for not being present for the hearing.
After he was given bail four days later, he was again picked up in connection with other two cases filed against him in Patan and Gandhinagar districts.
While he did get bail in these two cases on January 24, the trial court issued a non-bailable warrant against him on February 7 after he failed to appear for a hearing.
According to Kinjal, though they do not know about Hardik’s whereabouts, the police comes frequently to ask where he is.
The meeting organized by the Patidar leaders was aimed at putting pressure on the government to withdraw cases against the members of their community during the quota stir in 2015 and prior to state assembly elections of 2017.
Despite being untraceable, Hardik took to social media on Tuesday and alleged that the Vijay Rupani-led BJP government wants to arrest him and put him in jail in view of Panchayat elections. Elections are due by the year end.
He claimed that all the cases against him are fake and the process of getting anticipatory bail is on.
In support of Hardik and Patidar community, Reshma said that the state government has backed out on its promise of withdrawing cases against them. She said that even now she has been attending court hearings.
She said that if needed they will unite, cutting across party lines, for ensuring that the cases against them are withdrawn.
Reshma admitted that the state government succeeded in the past to create a rift among those agitating. She was indirectly referring to several PAAS leaders, including her, who served ties with the Samiti. She and others joined the BJP. Reshma said she regretted what happened then. Unhappy over the style of functioning of the BJP, she had resigned from the party and joined the NCP.
Hardik’s close aide and NSUI chief of Gujarat Nikhil Savani told THE WEEK that Hardik would have probably gone underground as police teams were looking out for him. Savani even questioned some cases against Hardik and asked as to how a person can do a crime at some other place when he is in police custody when the alleged crime happened.
Gujarat BJP spokesman Bharat Pandya told THE WEEK that the state government has indeed withdrawn cases against Patidars. He said that only those cases that were not under its purview would not have been withdrawn.
He said that the current problem with Hardik is because of the irregularity in being present for the hearings.
