Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel yesterday met with a delegation of leaders from the Patidar community, who presented their concerns and demands. The leaders had been requesting this meeting for a long time now and it had to be rescheduled several times. The meeting had been set for July 7 but it finally happened yesterday.
The delegation under the name World Patidar Federation (WPF) includes members from 21 leading Patidar community organisations, including the renowned Shri Umiya Mataji Sansthan, Unjha and Shri Khodaldham Trust. C K Patel, the President of WPF, talked about the meeting that went on for nearly an hour. He also elaborated on the agenda of the meeting.
C K Patel said that the leaders requested CM Patel to speed up the process of withdrawing cases against the people who were booked during the 2015 agitation. He further said, “The government has shown readiness to withdraw all the cases except the 14 cases of serious nature. And assurance has been given to withdraw the cases soon.” The leaders also demanded that the government provide a job to one member of each of the Patidar person who died during the agitation because of brutality from the police.
Other issues that were put forth by the community included the problems faced by Patidar youths in getting loans from the Gujarat State Commission for Unreserved Classes because of a lack of employees. The leaders urged the government to employ more staff as soon as possible and resolve the matter. C K Patel said, “We urged the CM to bring the commission under the purview of the Education Department to speed up work. We also demanded that the commission’s annual budget be increased from Rs500 crore to Rs1,000 crore. The limit on student loans should also be hiked from Rs15 lakh to Rs25 lakh.” said Patel.
C K Patel is one of the most prominent leaders of the communities and is associated with the ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2019 general elections, he was one of the contenders for the BJP ticket from the Ahmedabad (East) Lok Sabha constituency. He is also president of Vishva Gujarati Samaj – an influential Gujarati diaspora group.
With the Assembly Elections fast approaching, this meeting holds a unique significance. According to sources, Bhupendra Patel has assured the Patidar community that he would look into their concerns and resolve them prior to the polls.
