In the aftermath of Hardik Patel’s Ahmedabad rally last week, some ironies were hard to miss.
On August 25, in a formidable show of strength, more than 3 lakh Patidars from across Gujarat rallied around young Patel to demand that their caste group also be given reservations for government jobs and seats in educational institutions under the Other Backward Class quota. In the evening, as the police lathi-charged the crowd, some people from the rally reacted by setting buses and police motorbikes on fire.
By midnight, however, things took an unexpected ugly turn that might ring familiar for anyone who knows a little bit about the recent history of Gujarat.
Protectors turned perpetrators
In an ostensible effort to control the riot situation, scores of police teams went on a counter-rampage by breaking into Patel-dominated housing colonies, smashing windows and car panes, and thrashing men and women inside their own homes. Several men were dragged to police lock-ups and later charged with rioting, some allegedly died at the hands of the police. In every home, Patel families reported one common sexual threat used by policemen banging at their doors: “Send out your mothers and daughters, we’ll show you what reservation is.”
It was a traumatic experience for many Patidars in Ahmedabad and beyond, and community members fervently expressed their helplessness and rage. In the targeted Patel housing societies, almost everyone had the same question: “Where are we supposed to go if the very people who are supposed to protect us begin to attack us?”
Armed with the evidence of CCTV camera footage revealing police vandalism, Patidars began to call the police “goondas” and “terrorists”. In one instance, pointing to a small Hindu temple that a police team had allegedly destroyed, a Patel textile labourer proclaimed, “Terrorists have no religion.”
To all these Patidars, the reason for the police atrocities was clear: the lower ranks of Gujarat’s police force are filled with members of various caste groups designated as Other Backward Classes who oppose the Patels and their quest for reservations. If the Patel demand is actually granted, these other groups will have more competition for seats and jobs. “They never treated us well,” said Pravinbhai Patel, a businessman from Ahmedabad. "And this time, when they were given the order to vent their anger against us, they did so with unacceptable violence."
Déjà vu?
This gave Gujarat observers a sense of déjà vu. Similar sentiments have been heard before, from the Muslim survivors of the 2002 communal riots across Gujarat. In multiple fact-finding reports, eye-witness accounts and survivor testimonials of the riots 13 years ago, police officials have been described as complicit aides allowing Hindu mobs to burn, rape and kill members of the minority.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, several attacks on Muslim establishments in Ahmedabad took place right in front of police stations. In many cases, the police allegedly joining the mobs and fired at Muslims. Last month, former Ahmedabad city court judge Himanshu Trivedi recounted his own eye-witness account of the 2002 riots: from the balcony of his house, he claims he saw police personnel hand out flammable materials to a Hindu mob, which then set fire to a Muslim-owned laundry shop.
Survivors of the 2002 riots and police atrocities have expressed much of the same helplessness and indignation with which the Patidars are brimming today. They, too, experienced the horror of their protectors turning perpetrators, of being reminded that the uniformed men before them were really members of the majority community before anything else.
Thirteen years ago
That the Patels should now be in a similar position is ironic. The 2002 communal riots were the culmination of at least two decades of growing Hindu extremism in Gujarat, and the Patidars were among the most active supporters of the Hindutva movement and, later, of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Until the 1980s, the Patidars had traditionally supported the Congress, but turned against the party when Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki introduced reservations for scheduled castes and tribes in medical colleges in 1981, and then for Other Backward Castes in 1985. Agitating against the reservations in both cases, the Patels began to turn towards the Bharatiya Janata Party and the various organisations of the Sangh Parivar, whose roots grew deeper in Gujarat throughout the 1990s.
“In 2002, the BJP took an anti-minority stance, which the Patels thought was right,” said Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela, a former chief minister and current leader of opposition in the state’s assembly.
Many of those convicted for attacking Muslims in 2002 happen to be Patels. They were, of course, not the only group perpetrating communal violence – the purpose of the Hindutva project was to develop a consolidated Hindu identity cutting across caste lines and at the time, it seemed to have succeeded. “In many parts of Gujarat, Dalits and Adivasis were also provoked to attack Muslims,” said activist Teesta Setalvad. “But in some rural districts like Panch Mahal, Anand and Mehsana, Patels were at the forefront of the violence.”
Parallels unnoticed
In the midst of the current inter-caste bitterness between the Patidars and the police, however, most Patels seem completely oblivious to the parallels between their situation and that of the minority during 2002.
Last week, in Ahmedabad’s Patel-dominated Bapunagar suburb, residents spent hours expressing their feelings of betrayal by the police. “If we don’t feel safe with our supposed protectors, where are we to go?” said one exasperated group of Patels.
They were asked about 2002: Wasn’t the police back then, too, accused of perpetrating violence against citizens it was meant to protect?
After two seconds of confused silence, the group of Patels resumed talking simultaneously. “No no, we were saying, how can we feel safe if the police itself turns on us?”
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On August 25, in a formidable show of strength, more than 3 lakh Patidars from across Gujarat rallied around young Patel to demand that their caste group also be given reservations for government jobs and seats in educational institutions under the Other Backward Class quota. In the evening, as the police lathi-charged the crowd, some people from the rally reacted by setting buses and police motorbikes on fire.
By midnight, however, things took an unexpected ugly turn that might ring familiar for anyone who knows a little bit about the recent history of Gujarat.
Protectors turned perpetrators
In an ostensible effort to control the riot situation, scores of police teams went on a counter-rampage by breaking into Patel-dominated housing colonies, smashing windows and car panes, and thrashing men and women inside their own homes. Several men were dragged to police lock-ups and later charged with rioting, some allegedly died at the hands of the police. In every home, Patel families reported one common sexual threat used by policemen banging at their doors: “Send out your mothers and daughters, we’ll show you what reservation is.”
It was a traumatic experience for many Patidars in Ahmedabad and beyond, and community members fervently expressed their helplessness and rage. In the targeted Patel housing societies, almost everyone had the same question: “Where are we supposed to go if the very people who are supposed to protect us begin to attack us?”
Armed with the evidence of CCTV camera footage revealing police vandalism, Patidars began to call the police “goondas” and “terrorists”. In one instance, pointing to a small Hindu temple that a police team had allegedly destroyed, a Patel textile labourer proclaimed, “Terrorists have no religion.”
To all these Patidars, the reason for the police atrocities was clear: the lower ranks of Gujarat’s police force are filled with members of various caste groups designated as Other Backward Classes who oppose the Patels and their quest for reservations. If the Patel demand is actually granted, these other groups will have more competition for seats and jobs. “They never treated us well,” said Pravinbhai Patel, a businessman from Ahmedabad. "And this time, when they were given the order to vent their anger against us, they did so with unacceptable violence."
Déjà vu?
This gave Gujarat observers a sense of déjà vu. Similar sentiments have been heard before, from the Muslim survivors of the 2002 communal riots across Gujarat. In multiple fact-finding reports, eye-witness accounts and survivor testimonials of the riots 13 years ago, police officials have been described as complicit aides allowing Hindu mobs to burn, rape and kill members of the minority.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, several attacks on Muslim establishments in Ahmedabad took place right in front of police stations. In many cases, the police allegedly joining the mobs and fired at Muslims. Last month, former Ahmedabad city court judge Himanshu Trivedi recounted his own eye-witness account of the 2002 riots: from the balcony of his house, he claims he saw police personnel hand out flammable materials to a Hindu mob, which then set fire to a Muslim-owned laundry shop.
Survivors of the 2002 riots and police atrocities have expressed much of the same helplessness and indignation with which the Patidars are brimming today. They, too, experienced the horror of their protectors turning perpetrators, of being reminded that the uniformed men before them were really members of the majority community before anything else.
Thirteen years ago
That the Patels should now be in a similar position is ironic. The 2002 communal riots were the culmination of at least two decades of growing Hindu extremism in Gujarat, and the Patidars were among the most active supporters of the Hindutva movement and, later, of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Until the 1980s, the Patidars had traditionally supported the Congress, but turned against the party when Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki introduced reservations for scheduled castes and tribes in medical colleges in 1981, and then for Other Backward Castes in 1985. Agitating against the reservations in both cases, the Patels began to turn towards the Bharatiya Janata Party and the various organisations of the Sangh Parivar, whose roots grew deeper in Gujarat throughout the 1990s.
“In 2002, the BJP took an anti-minority stance, which the Patels thought was right,” said Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela, a former chief minister and current leader of opposition in the state’s assembly.
Many of those convicted for attacking Muslims in 2002 happen to be Patels. They were, of course, not the only group perpetrating communal violence – the purpose of the Hindutva project was to develop a consolidated Hindu identity cutting across caste lines and at the time, it seemed to have succeeded. “In many parts of Gujarat, Dalits and Adivasis were also provoked to attack Muslims,” said activist Teesta Setalvad. “But in some rural districts like Panch Mahal, Anand and Mehsana, Patels were at the forefront of the violence.”
Parallels unnoticed
In the midst of the current inter-caste bitterness between the Patidars and the police, however, most Patels seem completely oblivious to the parallels between their situation and that of the minority during 2002.
Last week, in Ahmedabad’s Patel-dominated Bapunagar suburb, residents spent hours expressing their feelings of betrayal by the police. “If we don’t feel safe with our supposed protectors, where are we to go?” said one exasperated group of Patels.
They were asked about 2002: Wasn’t the police back then, too, accused of perpetrating violence against citizens it was meant to protect?
After two seconds of confused silence, the group of Patels resumed talking simultaneously. “No no, we were saying, how can we feel safe if the police itself turns on us?”