That the Patidar factor continues to haunt the BJP is also clear from the initiative taken by a US and Canada-based organization of Patidars, called Pratham Gujarat Abhiyaan (Gujarat First Campaign), to launch a campaign of sorts against Amit Shah.
The monthly salary of a legislator in Gujarat will now be Rs 1.16 lakh, up from the existing Rs 70,727.
The 25-year-old Patidar leader has done something that was unthinkable in Gujarat’s politics and society.
He has been demanding reservations for his community, debt waiver to farmers and release of his associate Alpesh Kathiria, who is in jail on sedition charges.
On Sunday, an angry Hardik sent back a government medical team in protest against the police lathicharge on his supporters who came calling during the day.
The Vijay Rupani government has announced as many as eight schemes to provide financial assistance in jobs and education to economically backward classes.
Hardik, now 25, is himself eligible to contest Lok Sabha elections. But unless he can have the verdict -- two years in jail -- overturned by a higher court, he will not be able to fight elections, as it is being strongly speculated.
The going of Bavaliya, who has been gifted with a ministership, is a big jolt for the Congress because of his sway over the Koli community that influences as many as 33 assembly constituencies.
In our rush to 'crack the case' whenever an atrocity takes place, aren't we forgetting that we perhaps are widening the cracks between communities that are becoming unbridgeable?
The 37th Jnanpith awardee seems unaffected by the recent hype around him, just as he says he has elevated himself above temporary phases such as the recent violence in Gujarat. Even Mahatma Gandhi, he says, couldn't unite the Hindus and Muslims. He j
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