Starting in July 2015, the people of India’s Patidar community, seeking Other Backward Class (OBC) status, held public demonstrations across the Indian state of Gujarat. The largest demonstration was held in Ahmedabad on 25 August 2015, and was attended by thousands. Later, there were incidents of violence and arson across the state, resulting in a curfew in several cities and towns. Properties and vehicles worth crores of rupees were damaged and destroyed. The state returned to normalcy by 28 August. Despite talks with the government, the agitation recommenced and turned violent again on 19 September. The government announced a scheme that offered scholarships and subsidies to general category students on 24 September 2015 and a 10% quota of spaces reserved for economically backward classes in April 2016. The 10% reservation was quashed by the Gujarat High Court in August 2016.

Hardik Patel, who has been spearheading the Patidar quota agitation, has urged the community not to vote for the BJP even if his father is fielded by the party in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, according to the Indian Express. During a three-day Sankalp yatra, which he launched to press the reservation demand, Patel said, “It is our duty to liberate our community which has been enslaved for the last 25 years. The post-Godhra riots of 2002 were between Hindus and Muslims. But as a matter of fact, 140 Patidars are serving life imprisonment even today… They (BJP) have only exploited our votes and notes (money) and given nothing in return.

Addressing the Patidar community at Ajab village in Keshod taluka of Junagadh district, he said, “The election is around the corner. They (BJP) will give you many lollipops. Some will even come to buy you. But don’t vote even for my father, Bharat Patel, if he fights election from Keshod as a BJP candidate,” according to IE. The 24-year-old leader said the agitation has been going on for the last two-and-a-half years and the BJP has threatened to file many cases. “But we have always maintained that we are ready if you want to fight legally, and also if you want to fight by gundagardi (hooliganism). Let us, we Patidars and other communities, get together and remove those who are behaving like dictators and goons,” he was quoted as saying by IE.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first speech from Red Fort on Independence Day, announced that the government would replace the Planning Commission with a new body, bringing the curtains down on the 64-year-old institution founded on the former Soviet Union’s command-style development model. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, inspired by the Gosplanaided industrialisation of the Soviet Union, set up the Planning Commission in 1950.

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief

Starting in July 2015, the people of India’s Patidar community, seeking Other Backward Class (OBC) status, held public demonstrations across the Indian state of Gujarat. The largest demonstration was held in Ahmedabad on 25 August 2015, and was attended by thousands. Later, there were incidents of violence and arson across the state, resulting in a curfew in several cities and towns. Properties and vehicles worth crores of rupees were damaged and destroyed. The state returned to normalcy by 28 August. Despite talks with the government, the agitation recommenced and turned violent again on 19 September. The government announced a scheme that offered scholarships and subsidies to general category students on 24 September 2015 and a 10% quota of spaces reserved for economically backward classes in April 2016. The 10% reservation was quashed by the Gujarat High Court in August 2016.

Hardik Patel, who has been spearheading the Patidar quota agitation, has urged the community not to vote for the BJP even if his father is fielded by the party in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, according to the Indian Express. During a three-day Sankalp yatra, which he launched to press the reservation demand, Patel said, “It is our duty to liberate our community which has been enslaved for the last 25 years. The post-Godhra riots of 2002 were between Hindus and Muslims. But as a matter of fact, 140 Patidars are serving life imprisonment even today… They (BJP) have only exploited our votes and notes (money) and given nothing in return.

Addressing the Patidar community at Ajab village in Keshod taluka of Junagadh district, he said, “The election is around the corner. They (BJP) will give you many lollipops. Some will even come to buy you. But don’t vote even for my father, Bharat Patel, if he fights election from Keshod as a BJP candidate,” according to IE. The 24-year-old leader said the agitation has been going on for the last two-and-a-half years and the BJP has threatened to file many cases. “But we have always maintained that we are ready if you want to fight legally, and also if you want to fight by gundagardi (hooliganism). Let us, we Patidars and other communities, get together and remove those who are behaving like dictators and goons,” he was quoted as saying by IE.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first speech from Red Fort on Independence Day, announced that the government would replace the Planning Commission with a new body, bringing the curtains down on the 64-year-old institution founded on the former Soviet Union’s command-style development model. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, inspired by the Gosplanaided industrialisation of the Soviet Union, set up the Planning Commission in 1950.

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief