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MP rally damper for Hardik

Published On : 13 Oct 2015


Bhopal, (The Telegraph): Hardik Patel, the face of the Patels' quota movement in Gujarat, failed to make an impact in Madhya Pradesh as a rally he addressed drew crowds less than a tenth of the touted numbers.

Yesterday's rally of the Patel and the Patidar community in Ratlam was marked by the 22-year-old's scathing attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the attendance was estimated at 3,000. A day before the event, the organisers had claimed over a lakh would show up.

Hardik made his displeasure with the attendance clear even as he spoke, repeatedly asking the organisers why three huge enclosures near the venue had been kept vacant for parking when there were fewer than 100 vehicles.


Hardik, whose agitation has Gujarat's BJP government and the Centre worried, targeted the three Patel MLAs of the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh and branded them "traitors". He claimed that over 80 per cent of the community had voted the BJP in state and parliamentary polls but the Modi government was not considering their demand for reservation in government jobs and education as OBCs.

Hardik - whose Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti has held massive rallies in Gujarat - lashed out at Modi for praising the "Gujarat model of development". "By eulogising the Gujarat model of development, one has become the Prime Minister of the country. But the fact is that the state (Gujarat) is like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh."

Hardik cited alleged farm distress in his home state to buttress his point. "Many farmers have ended their lives in Gujarat in the last two months. Talented youths are not getting opportunities to become engineers and doctors." He said the state, although considered prosperous, could boast of "only a few wealthy people".


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