Patidar problem still remains unresolved for BJP

The overall economic crises facing agriculture and small and medium enterprises sectors, controlled by members of the community, is posing difficulties for the party

The Patidar trouble for the BJP in Gujarat is far from over. On Sunday, the leaders of Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) were detained while they were protesting the renaming of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Motera Stadium as Narendra Modi stadium.

This is just one among the multiple issues festering between the BJP and the Patidar community, which includes the BJP’s stand on the differences among the Swaminarayan sects, the party’s difficulty in placating community leader Naresh Patel and the overall crisis facing agriculture and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sectors controlled by members of this community. 

“This agitation will go for long. Changing the name of Patel is like denigrating the history of Indian freedom struggle. The government can name any other stadium in the name of the Prime Minister,” said Dharmik Malviya, the convenor of PAAS.

Talking to The Hindu, he said the issues the Patidars raised during the reservation agitation in 2015 still remained relevant. “In fact, the condition of the people in the community has become worse. The use of synthetic diamond and the issues in Russia have impacted the diamond business. The price of raw materials has increased four to five-fold and small traders and producers are in trouble,” he said.

Traditionally a farming community, the Patidars cultivated cash crops such as cotton, groundnut, tobacco, chickpea and sugarcane and invested the surplus they earned in small and medium industries.

The elder generation of the Patidars still prefer villages but the issues there are many. “The price of cotton is not enough. The input cost has increased. Apart from cotton, groundnut and chickpea are our main crops. We have demanded procurement and procurement price for these products. Government offered to procure chickpea and groundnut from the farms but put limitations for procurement. So farmers had to approach private traders. The system is not functioning properly,” Mr. Malvia said.

The 2015 reservation protests emanated from such economic issues. “Families have grown bigger, but income has come down. Businesses are also not making profits. The situation became worse after demonetisation and GST,” said Rajendra Patel, a trader from Ahmedabad.