Will quota icons be gain or pain for Cong?

RA JKOT:VL Des a ii san angry man and when Mukeshbhai Yadav wondered about the reason behind the demand of socially and economically influential Patidars for reservation in Gujarat, he had a ready answer.

“Why don’t we? We are no longer landlord sand there are no jobsforus,” Desai, aKadvaPatel, said and lauded Patidar quota agitationleader, HardikPatel, for making it a national issue.

Standing nearby at Teen Bati Chowk in Jetpur, about 70km from Rajkot, Keshubhai Veljibhai Sakhrelia, a Leuva Patel, blamed the BJP government for their condition.

“Where is ‘ vikas’ ( development) for us? There are only promises but no action,” the 50-year-old said.

The Pat ida rs’ angst against the BJP government has become morepronounced. Butitremains to be seen if the Congress is able to tap into that anger. At the same time, the Congress is caught between a rock and a hard place as it draws up a strategy to deal with Hardik, Other Backward Class ( OBC) leader Alpesh Thakor, and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani.

Hardik has been demanding reservation for Patidars and Thakor will not allow any tampering with the OBC quota.

While OBCs constitute 40% of Gujarat’s 60 million population, Patidars comprise 12%. The OBCs in the state are given 27% quota in jobs and education. The Scheduled Castes (SCs) have 7% and Scheduled Tribes( S Ts )15%, making a total of 49%, just under the 50% reservation cap set by the Supreme Court. Ever since Hardi kc a me in contact with the Congress, he has vacillated from one extreme to another.