Crowd puller who wants to be like Thackeray
He dresses like Arvind Kejriwal — in a shirt, trousers and a cap — and speaks like Bal Thackeray — with earthy humour and proverbs. And like the AAP leader and the late Shiv Sena supremo, Hardik Patel came into politics on the strength of popular protests.
As Gujarat voted in the second phase of state Assembly elections on Thursday, the arc lights are on the Patidar quota leader who seeks to embrace the state’s youth the way Kejriwal drew people with his anti- corruption campaign in Delhi, and Thackeray amassed crowds with his pro- Maharastra movement.
Mr Patel, 24, supported the Congress in the polls. In his rallies, however, he did not openly back the party but urged the people not to vote for the BJP.
His political foes said he has a limited hold over the state’s voters. But supporters of Patel believed the state’s youth stood behind him.
“He is the voice of the youth of Gujarat and not of any specific caste. Hardik talks about issues which are relevant to the state and its people, especially the young,” said Abhay Raj, a Rajput doctor and an ardent supporter. The founder of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti ( PAAS) extended support to the Congress after the party said it would address the issue of reservations for the community.
“We will win the elections and get 100 seats. The BJP will lose,” he told PTI on the sidelines of a recent rally.
PAAS’s election rallies in the state were similar to those of the Aam Aadmi Party. There were no chairs on the dais, or big banners. Like a DJ, he picked up the microphone and spoke to the gathering, walking up and down the stage. “This boy will do in Gujarat in this election what Kejriwal did in the Delhi Assembly elections,” said a supporter from Vadodara. Patel, who came to the forefront of state politics after he launched an agitation for quotas in jobs and education for the Patel community, did not mention reservations when he addressed large rallies in areas not dominated by Patels.