In a major blow to Congress, Hardik Patel resigns from party months before polls

'I believe that with my decision, I will be able to work positively for the future of Gujarat', Patel said

Since his rise in 2015 as the 21-year-old poster boy of 2015 quota agitation and bringing the mighty ruling BJP to its knees, which resulted in removing the then chief minister Anandi Patel and bringing a caste-neutral CM Vijay Rupani, among other things, Hardik Patel, now 28, seems to have leaned towards the saffron party if the messages, not subtle to say the least, in his resignation letters are to be deciphered.

Written in Gujarati, Hindi and English, Hardik has attempted to send across messages, which the BJP has been using to criticise the Congress, particularly its past president Rahul Gandhi. Hardik has said that Congress is "not a serious party" and its leaders "enjoy traveling abroad when, back home, the country is facing challenges''. It is anybody's guess who Hardik is referring to. The Gandhi scion has been butt of jokes on his "foreign trips" on important occasions is no secret.

Hardik has written, "Lack of seriousness about all issues is a major problem with the Congress party's senior leadership. Whenever I met the senior leadership, I always felt that leaders were not really interested in hearing about problems concerning the people of Gujarat but most engrossed on what messages they had received on their Mobile and other such trivial things." He goes on to say, "Whenever our country faced challenges and when the Congress needed leadership, Congress leaders were enjoying abroad! Senior leaders behave in a way like they hate Gujarat and Gujaratis."

Hardik Patel's claim that senior Congress leaders behave as if they "hate Gujarat and Gujaratis" is also a reminder of the language BJP has been using to attack its opponent. Invoking "Gujarati Asmita" or "Gujarati Pride" to counter any criticism is central to BJP's campaign led by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself ever since he became the chief minister in 2001. BJP successfully built the narrative that any attack on Modi would tantamount to attack on "six crore Gujaratis''.

Apart from these "messages'', which will make the Congress defensive on TV and social media in countering them, the opposition party believes it won't have any bearing in the poll outcome. As a senior journalist puts it, the Congress is not bothered in consolidating Patidar votes as the party still relies on OBC votes along with Scheduled Castes and Tribes, all part of KHAM.

Sources said that he was getting close to some of the BJP leaders to negotiate his entry into the saffron fold. His previous statements praising Narendra Modi and the BJP as a "decisive party" is said to be part of the deal. Besides, in his resignation letter, he has mentioned how Congress played "the role of roadblock" on issues concerning Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and implementation of GST. These are the cannon fodders that Hardik has served for the BJP against its opponent Congress in the coming Assembly polls.

It is also a fact that Hardik during his three-year stint in Congress remained an "outsider" and was never accepted by local leaders. Hardik and his group of friends from Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) backed Congress in 2017 Assembly polls and along with OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and emerging Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, Congress was successful in reducing the BJP to 99 seats, the ruling party's worst performance since 1995.

Hardik joined Congress in 2019 in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls in the presence of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and barely a year later, he was appointed as state Congress' working president, a respectable post. Within six months and for the first time, he told DH how "frustrated" he was since he wasn't getting any work from the party, a complaint he kept raising till his resignation.

It is said that Hardik had run out of options since he was not being "accepted" in the Congress and didn't have anything to offer as well. Party lost body polls badly and couldn't win a single Assembly seat out of eight which went to by-polls due to his party MLAs resigning and switching over to BJP. With the 2022 Assembly approaching, Hardik was failing in pursuing his partymen to appoint his close aides to some of the important posts and bargaining tickets for them.