Controversial Patidar leader and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel on Wednesday hit out at the party for not consulting him and delaying decision-making on party affairs in the state.
Speaking to Indian Express, Hardik Patel, who was convicted in a riots case subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court, lashed out at the Congress party for not inviting him to the party meetings or consulting him before taking major decisions. He asked what is the point of making him the working president of the party if he is not being consulted.
The controversial leader said that he is being ignored in the party and added that his position in the party is that of a newly married groom who has been forced to undergo ‘nasbandi’ (sterilisation).
“My position in the party is that of a newly married groom who has been made to undergo nasbandi (sterilisation),” lamented Hardik Patel.
It is pertinent to mention that the Congress party has a deep association with forced sterilisation. During the 1975 Emergency, former Congress party leader Sanjay Gandhi had forced poor men from rural areas to undergo ‘nasbandi’ or sterilisation to limit the population.
Hardik Patel also questioned the Congress party’s delay in inducting Khodaldham trust president and powerful Patidar leader Naresh Patel into the party, who is now being wooed by all parties in the state. Hardik Patel said that the delay is nothing but an insult to the entire Patidar community.
“I am seeing on TV that the Congress wants to induct Naresh Patel for the 2022 polls. I hope they do not search for a new Patel for the 2027 elections. Why does the party not utilise the people it already has?”
Hardik Patel also expressed his disappointment over the Congress party not utilising him properly. Speaking to Indian Express, Patel said that it might be because people felt threatened by him within the party.
“I am not invited to any of the meetings of the PCC, they don’t consult me before making any decisions, then what is the point of this post?” Hardik said, adding that the party recently announced 75 new general secretaries and 25 new vice-presidents without even consulting him.
Supreme Court stays Congress leader Hardik Patel’s conviction in 2015 rioting case
The Supreme Court stayed the conviction of Hardik Patel in a court case involving rioting and vandalism during the Patidar quota agitation in Visnagar, Gujarat, in 2015.
Patel was sentenced to two years in jail in July 2018 by a sessions court in Visnagar, Mehsana district, for rioting and arson in Visnagar town during the Patidar quota demonstrations he spearheaded in 2015. The Gujarat High Court had stayed his sentencing but not his conviction in August 2018.
In April 2019, Hardik Patel petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse the Gujarat High Court’s ruling, demanding that the conviction be stayed so that he may participate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Patel was prevented from contesting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections because a criminal serving a sentence of two years or more is not eligible to contest polls.
