Patidar anamat

Patidar reservation: Social media spreading Sardar Patel movement like wild fire

Interestingly, social media movement is snowballing with volunteer support, not ground leaders of PAAS and SPG.

• Patel community members hold placards and shout slogans during a protest demanding reservation for their community in Vadodara on Friday PTI

The rapidly spreading support of Patidar reservation and presence in rallies across the state is fueled not just by the leaders' personal outreach but lakhs have been reached on smart phones through social media – Patidar Apps, Facebook and Whatsapp. What is perhaps more interesting is the online campaigns are not managed by the leaders on ground themselves but motivated people who regularly update and run the virtual show.

In a span of 45-days, ongoing pro-reservation agitation has spread like wildfire. Instead of an organised effort of spreading the message, gathering crowds or organising events, unorganised efforts from individuals is drawing maximum crowds. "We have not even set-up a control room or a committee that looks after propaganda. All efforts are self-motivated," Varun Patel, in-charge of Patidar Anamat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) in Ahmedabad said.There are about 56 WhatsApp groups and some 15 Facebook pages. "None of these platforms is created by PAAS or Sardar Patel Group or any other local committees (there are 42 such groups) of the community. It is all self-motivated. An individual who supports the movement or our cause starts working for us on his own. Depending on his skill some create groups or pages; others contact people door-to-door at village level or ward level," Patel adds.

Group meetings at ward and society level are also organised. Any person with good leadership skills takes the lead. "For all of our rallies we have not collected any funds. Donations are in the form of expenses incurred for buying caps or printing banners or publicity material. But nothing is sought by any of our leaders," he said



Why Are Gujarati Crowds Listening To This 22 Year Old Hardik Patel?

Over 4.5 lakh people turned up in Surat on Monday as Hardik Patel led his latest rally, demanding OBC status for the Patels. Hardik Patel, 22, has emerged as one of the most prominent leaders in leading this movement. Hardik is a commerce graduate and runs a water supply business in Viramgam, 63 km away from Ahmedabad.

Reason for Protest

He said he felt after hearing the concerns of the youth from the community who did not get jobs or admission in government educational institutions that the injustice was due to the reservation policy, Indian Express reported.

Hardik is leading the Patidar Social group in Mehsana since 2004. Patidar is the name of the community using Patel surname. Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti which was formed in July this year with an objective of getting OBC Status for Patels. Since July, they are doing rallies all around Gujarat. Their last rally on Monday, 17th August, was attended by more than 4.5 Lakh people and he announced that he will get a 40 lakh crowd in the Ahmedabad Patidar rally on August 25.

“Reservation is our right,” he says. “First we follow the path shown by Gandhiji and Sardar Patel but, if required, we can become Bhagat Singh too.”