At close to 9 pm on Sunday night, Hardik Patel’s official Facebook page was live from his rally in Surat. More than 33,000 people were watching it concurrently, a number that publishers, and indeed politicians, would kill for.
But what piqued the political observer’s interest was not the numbers online, but those on the ground. Patel was gathering a sea of supporters, a number The Hindu conservatively pegged at “more than 50,000”.
Patel rose to the occasion like a charm. Employing crowd management tactics you’d expect of emcees at college fests (and it isn’t the first time he’s doing that), he asked those gathered to turn their phone flashlights on. In the ensuing expanse of white light, Patel’s voice thundered through:
I, Hardik Patel, swear by the martyrdom of the 14 Patidars and vow to cast my vote on 9 and 14 December before 11 am to oust the BJP who are torturing six crore people of the state.
The crowd swore along.
Pause for Effect
At another point in the rally, Patel paused his speech and had a unique request for his supporters.
I give you five minutes. Each one of you, take out your phones and call one relative, or friend, or anyone you know – and ask them to not vote for the BJP.Hardik Patel
In a district the BJP had swept in the 2012 Assembly polls, a showing as large and a crowd as responsive can only be a sign of discontent with the ruling party. Add to that Surat’s importance as a hub of both Patidars and traders, many of whom joined massive protests against the imposition of GST in July, and you see why the Congress party was desperate to woo the 24-year-old this election – and why Hardik’s Surat rally proves that he is a substantial cause of concern for the BJP.
'Sex CD vs Vikas CD'
When the purported sex clip of Hardik Patel hit the headlines, there was speculation about whether this would stop the Patidar leader in his tracks. It did not.
Instead, Hardik spun the incident to his advantage.
The people of Gujarat do not want to see the CD of a 22-year-old boy, they want to see the CD of the vikas that has happened over the past 22 years.Hardik Patel on Twitter
To add to that, he accused the BJP of orchestrating the ‘scandal’ that wasn’t. “This is just the beginning of dirty politics. I am sure that BJP people would circulate some more CDs because the man who did it recently joined the party in Delhi. But I am not worried at all about such tactics.”
The Importance of Being Hardik Patel
24 years old. Too young to even contest elections.
No political experience. A protest movement is all he led.
An abrasive, blunt youngster who had no hesitation in calling the Congress “chor” and the BJP “mahachor”, even as he was in talks with the grand old party to join hands this election.
But the Congress bore the insults and continued to woo him. And on his terms of a guarantee on reservation, Hardik Patel obliged. You would expect the established political party to stack the deck in negotiations with the newbie, but it wasn’t so.
You could argue that that speaks a lot about the state of the Congress party, desperate for an electoral victory. It does. But it also speaks volumes about the millennial agitator who has made his mark in the politics of Gujarat. And it would only seem is here to stay.
Video Producer: Srishti Tyagi
Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
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