'Patels in Gujarat have 56-inch chests, know how to get reservation'

Vadodara: Patels in Gujarat have "56-inch chests" and know how to make government accept their demands for reservation under OBC quota, community leader Hardik Patel said on Friday.

"Patels in Gujarat have 56-inch chests and know how to make government oblige to them on their demands. We are not connected with any political party and we are firm for inclusion of the community in OBC quota," said Hardik, the leader of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) while addressing a gathering of more than 1.5 lakh members of Patel (Patidar) community at Navlakhi compound here.

Hardik, who is steering the agitation and is fast becoming face of the agitation, latched onto the "56-inch" phrase used extensively by Narendra Modi in run-up to Lok Sabha elections.

He also demanded a reservation at five per cent for farm labourers belonging to Patel community who do not have own land and whose names do not appear on the 7/12 land extract (revenue record) under the Special Backward Class (SBC) quota.

Patels have been organising rallies in various parts of the state demanding reservation in government jobs and education under OBC quota. They will organise a rally, which they claim will be the biggest, at Ahmedabad on August 25.

"The 50-day-old agitation of Patels is getting an overwhelming response from entire community which is determined to get their demands accepted by government," he claimed.

Hardik said the community decided to launch the protest after many youths approached him and other leaders citing their failure in securing admission in government colleges despite having good scores and getting jobs.

"First we would follow the path shown by (Mahatma) Gandhiji and Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel, but if required we can become Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar (Azad) too," he said.

According to Hardik unlike Gujarat, Patels are known by different surnames in other states, like Kurmis who are classified as OBCs or SCs and are in big numbers in government.

After addressing the gathering, Hardik took part in a massive rally wherein members of the community rode bikes, trucks and tractors to reach the district collector's office to submit a memorandum for their demand.

In its response to the issue, the government had formed a seven-member committee headed by state Health minister Nitin Patel to hold dialogues with various communities.