Has the ruling BJP in Gujarat finally managed to find a chink in Hardik Patel's armor?
A couple of objectionable CDs allegedly featuring 24-year-old Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener had gone viral recently. The videos, however, were soon removed from YouTube.
In one of the videos, a person who looks like the Patidar agitation leader is seen with a girl and in a second video, a lookalike of Patel is seen with two men and a girl in a bedroom.
The videos have come at a time when Patel and PAAS are in talks with the Congress over reservation for Patidars. Patel has been urging the people to vote out the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Whether or not the CDs will have any impact on the polls remains to be seen, but for the time being, debate on development has been put aside.
It is not the first time that such CDs have surfaced. Several years ago, a CD allegedly featuring BJP leader Sanjay Joshi in a compromising position with a woman had emerged. Joshi had to resign from party post, but later it was found that the CD was doctored.
The Hardik Patel videos have sharply divided political spectrum in the state with the BJP burning effigies of Patel and the Congress, PAAS and dalit leader Jignesh Mevani coming to the support of the Patidar lader.
Patel has been spearheading the agitation for reservation for over two years and the BJP cannot take the agitation lightly as Patels, traditionally BJP vote bank since 1980s, form 12 per cent of the electorate.
The BJP has tried to distance itself from the CDs and said if Patel is innocent, he should file a police complaint.
Reacting to the second CD, Patel said such things would keep coming out. “For a moment believe that I am wrong, but the issue is about reservation and I am not going to deviate from it,” he said. “I am going to villages, if less people come I will believe that I am wrong,” Patel added.
Patel's father Bharat told THE WEEK that his son was being framed. Claiming that he did not know who could be behind the CDs, Bharat said obviously those who are affected by the agitation would be behind it. He added that the CDs would not affect the agitation.
Mevani's open support for Patel has come in as a shot in the arm for PAAS. Pointing towards the snoopgate in which the then minister of state for home Amit Shah was alleged to have snooped on a young architect girl, Mevani said people who would dare to do such things would not hesitate do similar things with the help of police.
Noting that the CDs amounted to breach of privacy of a person, he said if the BJP had carried out development works in the past 22 years, they did not have to stoop down to this level.
Patel has not yet filed a complaint, but the way he has been getting support from various quarters is indicative of the fact that as of now, the attempt to malign Patel by projecting his personal life has backfired.
