Today the Surat, Gujarat police arrested Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener Hardik Patel and 19 others from Varachha area, after they tried to carry out their proposed Ekta Yatra without taking the permission from the police.
After Hardik Patel was arrested, along with his associates in Surat, all the mobile internet services in the city, have been ordered to stop by the district collector. Regarding this, Collector of Surat city, Dr Rajendra Kumar even passed an order to stop all the irrelevant rumors about the issue in the social networking sites.
However, after the declaration of district collector, about the stoppage of mobile internet services, there are a few of the criticisms, he faced through the tweets, but however, it can be understood that the step he took is to prevent any threats from any possible corner.
Among the arrested PAAS leaders, Dinesh Patel and Alpesh Katheriya are also included. The police arrested them from Varachha area after stopping all their speculations about their plans for the Ekta rally. Around 9 am, the PAAS leaders surfaced in Mangadh Chawk locality and garlanded a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Hardik Patel Ekta yatra was kept secret till today morning
Till today morning, the PAAS leaders maintained utmost secrecy about their rally and other plans. The main demand of the PAAS leaders is to include the Patidar community under OBC status, to get the reservation benefits like government jobs and several other education benefits.
The agitation leaders demanded stringent action against the policemen, who indulged "committed excesses with the members of the Patel community" after the mega rally on August 25th. In this operation, 10 persons including a policeman were killed, forcing the state government to call in the army and paramilitary forces.
OBC communities protest against Ekta Yatra
After positive sign for Kapus caste in the reservations, the OBC communities are threatened of Patels be included in their community and regarding this, after Ekta Yatra became popular in the new, the frustrated OBC communities decided to perform a protest against Ekta Yatra.
Speaking about this, the OBC community people said that, OBC is a backward one and we do not want to share our caste benefits with patels, who are already strong. They opined that, if patels are included in OBC category, then it would reduce their chances of benefits under OBC category.
In Gujarat, the OBC communities have 27% reservations in the government jobs and educational institutes while Dalits enjoy 7% and tribals are entitled to 14% as a part of the reservations.
By Phani Ch
