 "Hardik Patel leading Patidar community members during their rally for reservation in Ahmedabad")
Sitting in the small living room of her two-storey house in Matrushakti Society, Prabhaben Patel looks lost. The trauma of her son's death, allegedly in police custody, is still fresh. Shwetang Patel, 32, was reportedly picked up by the police from his house in Ahmedabad's Bapunagar area on the night of August 25, after unrest broke out across Gujarat following the detention of quota agitation leader Hardik Patel.
Shwetang's father, who is physically challenged, is in shock since then. And so are the residents of Matrushakti, a middle-class housing society in Bapunagar that is home to Patidars, Vaniyas and Brahmins. Standing in front of the broken door of her house, a resident who is too scared to reveal her name recounts the events of that night. "A handful of policemen broke into our house and beat me and my son. I don't know why they behaved like goons that night," she says.
The housing society offers a glimpse into where the Patidars, who have launched a high-decibel agitation for reservation in government-run educational institutions and government jobs, stand in the social order. It has about 200 independent houses and almost an equal number of cars. Almost every family owns at least one car, says a member of the housing society. Most of these cars now have broken windshields and dents from the alleged police action last week.
Besides cars, the residents also own two-wheelers. But the houses aren't exactly affluent. The one where Shwetang Patel lived has hardly any furniture. Most of the inhabitants work in the embroidery, stitching or tailoring businesses.
Bapunagar, where the society is located, is a Patidar-dominated residential area on the eastern banks of the Sabarmati. It was developed for textile mill workers in the 1960s. As the mills faded away, the enterprising Patidars started businesses at home such as making incense sticks, detergent and embroidery.
Karsanbhai Patel, the founder of the Rs 2,500 crore Nirma group, once lived and made detergent powder here. He would sell it from door to door. The area is today referred to as "mini-Saurashtra" after the Patidar-dominated region in Gujarat and is the diamond cutting and polishing hub of Ahmedabad.
Bapunagar in many ways captures the life of the quintessential Patidars, who once owned farmland. Using the surplus farm income, they later set up small businesses, moved to the cities, educated their children and ended up being part of the city's workforce.
The question now arises: how justified is the demand for reservation by a community that forms a relatively better-off section of the Gujarati society and which is also considered socially and politically influential?
Strength in numbers
Patidars, who are said to be the descendants of Ram's twins, Luv and Kush, comprise 12-14 per cent of Gujarat's population of 65 million, say social scientists. Of the 162 members of the Gujarat legislative assembly, 37 belong to the community. And, Patidars determine the outcome in 62-65 assembly seats where they have a strong presence.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel is a Patidar. She is a Leuva Patel (the supposed descendants of Luv), who constitute 8-10 per cent of the state's population. Leuva Patels not only outnumber the Kadva Patels (the descendants of Kush), but are also economically stronger with bigger landholdings.
"Patidar" literally means a "landowner". The community owes its success and rise - both social and economic - to the tenancy reforms post-Independence that made them the owners of the land. The community has primarily four sub-castes. Besides the numerically and socially dominant Leuva and Kadva Patels, there are the Satpanthis (concentrated around Kutch, their customs are similar to those of Muslims) and the Chaudhary or Aanjana Patels (concentrated in North Gujarat and the Saurashtra region). The Satpanthis depend on agriculture and are backward.
Hardik Patel belongs to the Kadva sub-caste.
While there is no official data about the average income or literacy rate of the Patidars, community leaders claim that only 15 per cent of the Patidars are affluent. Jerambhai Vansjaliya, a community leader of the Kadva sub-caste, says, "Nearly 60 per cent of the Patidars live in villages. Of them, around 30 per cent have landholdings of less than 10 bighas (about 4 acres)."
Across caste lines
Sociologist Vidyut Joshi says the last 10 years have seen multiple crop failures in Gujarat. The job market too is tight. "There has hardly been any new employment in the government, which has resorted to contractual employment," he says. "Add to this the industrialisation wave in Gujarat, encouraged by the Vibrant Gujarat summits. Land was taken away for industry, without proper rehabilitation plans."
Kadvas, he says, were left behind in the race. For one, they are present in north Gujarat and the Amreli districts that are heavily dependent on irrigation. Crop failures hurt them. Besides, economically there is not much difference between the Kadvas and the Aanjana Patels, says Joshi. But while the Aanjanas were included in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, the Kadvas were left out. "The basis for reservation was social and educational backwardness, and not economic backwardness," says Joshi.
Today, when a Kadva sees his Aanjana neighbour landing a seat in an educational institute or a government job on grounds of the OBC status, while he is left out, it leads to anger and frustration, he adds.
There is, however, no ignoring the strong representation that the Patidar community has in Gujarat's industry.
Besides Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma, other influential Patidars in the business world include Pankaj Patel of the Zydus group, Mahendra G Patel of Lincoln Pharmaceuticals and diamond barons Savji Dholakia (who gifted cars and flats to employees on Diwali), Vallabh Patel and Lalji Patel. Patidars also have a significant presence in the state's real estate industry.
Gujarat has over 6,100 industrial units that have a turnover of more than Rs 10 crore. Of these, nearly 1,700 belong to Patels - well over 25 per cent, says Vansjaliya. Amongst the traditional non-mercantile communities, this would be the highest representation. In contrast, Jains own 720 of these and Brahmins only 320.
About 40 per cent of the Patidars are businessmen, industrialists and entrepreneurs; 30 per cent fall in the middle-class; 21 per cent are well-to-do farmers; and the remaining 9 per cent are poor, marginal farmers, according to local social scientists and economists. Their success abroad is the stuff of legends: in Africa, Europe as well as the United States.
The need for jobs
The Patidars argue that those in their community who do not have enough capital to start a business have no choice but to look for jobs. This is where they allege they are losing out to communities in the reserved category. Within reserved categories too studies have shown that the more affluent communities tend to do well, claims Joshi. Hardik Patel claims that a Patidar who scores even 90 per cent in the exams loses out to an OBC who has only 45 per cent marks. This, however, might not be entirely true.
Estimates show that Patidars get about 25 per cent seats in the medical colleges of Gujarat in the open category. There is a difference of only a few percentage points in the marks of general category and reserved category candidates who get admission.
Sociologist Joshi says, "Castes are no longer homogeneous traditional occupation-based groups. There are well-off people among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs, and the opposite is also true."
So, "what has happened in Gujarat," he says, "could be repeated in other parts of India, especially Maharashtra and Karnataka."
