The violent agitation by the Patidar community has brought to surface the discord and disenchantment in Gujarat. The ‘patidars’, who are Patels – a surname noted for being numerically the most popular Indian last name in the US – are angry and agitating against the government headed by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel because, as a caste group, they feel that the political and economic space for them in their homeland Gujarat has shrunk significantly. To understand the incongruities here one has to go back a little.
The state of Gujarat was formed from the bilingual Bombay State in 1960. The Patels gained prominence due to land reforms. Under the Ryotwari system as well as the princely state system, the land went to them. The Patels are an industrious community. They improved farm productivity and prospered. The surplus from agriculture was invested in business and manufacturing in urban areas.
Another section of adventurous Patels migrated to Africa and from there to the UK, the US and many other countries. Hard work, frugality and kinship helped in making wealth there, too. The NRIs ploughed their wealth back home in land and non-land economic ventures. The Patel domination began from 1960s in the economic sphere. They constituted a good proportion of middle and upper middle class of Gujarat. A few also joined the wealthier group.
The Patels are not savarna – the upper caste in the conventional social caste hierarchy. Once economically well off, they sought social status, and it came through the religion-sectarian route. They adopted the Swaminarayan sect in large measure. Gujarat politics was, until then, dominated by a combination of upper and lower castes, and the Patels could not find a sizeable space here.
The BJP, which saw in this an opportunity, began a planned wooing of the community. Thus, Gujarat became a Hindutva laboratory. Caution must be introduced that not all Patels went this way. Further, a small section of Patels had modernised. Also, they had their chance in Chimanbhai Patel and Babubhai J Patel becoming chief ministers in the 1970s. But, a majority became subjects of the laboratory.
Between 1976 and 1990, Jinabhai Darji – who became the PCC president in 1972 – introduced the famed ‘KHAM’ strategy bringing Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslims together as a force. The effective strategy gained the Congress an unpre-cedented space in the Gujarat Assembly. In the Sixth (1980-85) and Seventh (1985-90) Assembly, the Congress won 141 and 149 of the total 182 seats, though it failed to consolidate power for future.
In the Eighth Assembly (1990-95), the BJP won 67 seats and two Patels collaborated. Keshubhai Patel from the BJP lent support to Chimanbhai Patel. Soon, Chimanbhai broke the coalition and re-joined the Congress. But, the BJP, with the support of the Patels, gained further ground. In the Ninth Assembly in 1995, the BJP won 121 seats and Keshubhai became the chief minister. Due to internal strife, he could not hold office for long. However, in fresh elections in 1998, the BJP won 117 seats and Keshubhai Patel assumed office firmly.
In the aftermath of the Kutch earthquake in January 2001, Keshubhai was seen not delivering properly. He was replaced by Narendra Modi in October 2001. Within a short time, in February 2002, one of the worst communal riots took place in Gujarat. The Patels, who had acquired money and social status in urban Gujarat, especially in Ahmedabad, but had remained politically marginalised, saw power in their hands with the BJP’s Hindutva strategy.
Elections were held in 2002 before the completion of the Assembly’s term. Modi became the chief minister again with the a good majority and went on to stay until May 2014. The Patels viewed BJP’s ascendance to power in Gujarat as an establishment of their supremacy.
The new leadership, however, killed whatever limited democracy that existed within the BJP. The Patels got some berths in the cabinet but none could become independent and powerful. Keshubhai Patel sensed it and revolted, only to fail repeatedly. The Patels still saw a future in Modi’s leadership.
Process of disillusion
However, in those 14 years, the process of disillusion began. The community started experiencing an economic set back, too. The Patels from Mahesana district, who had prospered through the milk economy, opted to migrate to the UK and the US, allegedly paying huge illegal sums to human traffickers. International sealing of borders restricted this process and the costs spiralled.
The diamond industry in Surat saw volatility. The modifications in the state’s industrial policy hit badly the Patel-dominated small and medium enterprises. Vibrant Gujarat investment summits saw reduced space for the community. Land acquisition policy hit small and marginal Patel farmers, too. Many had sent their children to schools and colleges paying huge fees but they failed to secure jobs.
At the Panchayat level, the Patels could not become powerful as the arrogant Gujarat government had refused to implement schemes like NREGA. In rural areas, political and economic power co-mes from such programmes. Finally, the Patel leader, CM Anandiben – who was deputed by Modi after he left – and the other Patels who were in power, failed to instil any confidence in their community.
August 2015 saw the first eruption. The defeat in district and panchayat polls towards the end of 2015 was a big blow to Patel dominance. Thus, it was a real and, to an extent, a perceived shrinkage in the political and economic spaces that made the Patels desperate to come out on the roads against the state.
Unfortunately, the only politically sympathetic demand they can make is to get themselves declared as the OBCs. While the savarnas would still be reluctant to admit the Patels into their fold, the OBCs aren’t happy to embrace this lot either!
It is, therefore, ironic that a community that rose to the peak of power under Modi is now agitating against the very establishment that it helped grow and gain power. The implications of this for the so-called Gujarat model of development are serious and far-reaching.
(The writer is a noted Gandhian economist and former vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapeeth)
(The Billion Press)