Hardik Patel rules out negotiations, says not against quota

Ahmedabad, August 26

Hardik Patel, who is spearheading the Patel agitation for quota, has decided to take Gujjar’s aid to bolster their demand, as he threatens to intensify the protest.

The 22-year-old B.Com Graduate, who galvanised enough strength for the movement to bring Gujarat to its knees, has also refused to negotiate his demand.

He will now head for Delhi to meet Gujjar leaders.

Hardik Patel, however, said it was still to early to say whether he was willing to take his protest to the national level.

“Our sole objective is the inclusion of Patel community in the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category. We will not relent till our demand is fulfilled. We do not want reservation system to be abolished as it is being talked. We just want OBC quota for Patels," he said, when asked if it was true that he had demanded the reservation system to be scrapped if Patels were not included in the reserved list.

Patel or Patidars of Gujarat are traditionally a farming community whose votes the BJP have relied on heavily in the past 25 years.

So much is their support to the saffron, in fact, that Hardik Patel has even warned the party that the “lotus” will not “bloom” if their demands are ignored. PTI