Patidars detained ahead of protest to 'restore' name of Narendra Modi Stadium
India Today
Gujarat Police detained several Patidars leaders ahead of a protest rally. The Patidar community is demanding the renaming of Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi stadium after Sardar Patel.
Patidar leaders were detained on Sunday ahead of Sardar Sanman Sankalp Yatra seeking to restore the name of Ahmedabad's cricket stadium from Narendra Modi to Sardar Patel. The community members are planning to further intensify the protests across the state.
Ahead of the planned rally from Surat to Ahmedabad, over 50 Patidar leaders were detained by police. Several Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leaders were detained too.
Several Patidar organisations and individuals have come together seeking the name change of the largest stadium in the world.
Ahead of Gujarat assembly elections, this andolan by Patidar leaders is becoming a challenge for the state government.
"This is not democracy. This is dictatorship. Even before the start of the rally we were all detained. All were taken to different police stations. PAAS convener Alpesh Kathiriya too was detained," Patidar leader Dharmik Malaviya told India Today.
"We are not going to stop here. Our andolan is going to intensify. If the Gujarat government does not change name from Narendra Modi Stadium back to Sardar Patel Stadium, our protest will intensify all across Gujarat," he added.
Following the arrest, the Patidars are now planning to protest in front of the stadium, which hosted the 2022 IPL final, tomorrow, June 13. Heavy police have been deployed to avert any untoward incident.
