Of the nearly 300 cases registered against protesters during the Patidar quota agitation of 2015 in Gujarat, more than 270 now stand withdrawn, with the state government deciding to scrap nine more.
While the 2015 Patidar quota agitation was directly responsible for the BJP’s tally coming down drastically in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, the party has put this far behind since, winning in 2022 with a record number of seats. The Patidars, who used to be the party’s vote bank, are back on its side, while the face of the 2015 quota agitation, Hardik Patel, is now an MLA of the BJP.
Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi confirmed the withdrawal of more cases against Patidar protesters, saying: “A decision was taken to withdraw the nine cases registered during the agitation.”
Sources said the decision was taken by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and of the nine cases withdrawn, three were against Hardik. Of the three, two involved sedition and allied charges.
Welcoming the development, Hardik posted on X in Hindi: “The government of (Chief Minister) Bhupendra Patel has withdrawn the serious cases, including of sedition, registered during the Patidar agitation against Patidar community youths including me. On behalf of the community, I thank the BJP government of Gujarat.” He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “from the depth of my heart”.
गुजरात में हुए पाटीदार आंदोलन के दौरान मेरे समेत समाज के अनेक युवाओं पर लगे गंभीर राजद्रोह समेत के मुक़दमे आज भूपेंद्र भाई पटेल की सरकार ने वापिस लिए है। मैं समाज की ओर से गुजरात की भाजपा सरकार का विशेष आभार व्यक्त करता हूँ।
पाटीदार आंदोलन से गुजरात में बिन आरक्षित वर्गों के…
— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) February 7, 2025
A top government source said: “It has been decided to withdraw these cases under provisions of Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Now, the public prosecutors will move the respective courts to withdraw these cases.”
Section 321 of the CrPC empowers a public prosecutor or assistant public prosecutor in-charge of a case to withdraw the case any time before the criminal trial is completed.
Of the nine cases, two were registered in Surat, six in Ahmedabad and one in Mehsana. The sedition cases were registered at Amroli Police Station in Surat city and the City Detection of Crime Branch of Ahmedabad city, and Hardik was an accused in both.
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The co-accused included some of Hardik’s then associates including Dinesh Bambhaniya, Chirag Patel, Alpesh Kathiriya, Chirag Desai and Amrish Patel.
In his post, Hardik lauded the measures taken by the Gujarat government for the Patidars. “Because of the Patidar agitation, a commission and corporation were formed in Gujarat for non-reserved classes, a Yuva Swamlamban Yojana worth Rs 1,000 crore was implemented, and the savarnas got the benefit of 10% reservation on economic basis.”
The 2015 Patidar agitation had demanded OBC status for the community, to make it eligible for reservation in education and government jobs. The agitation had turned violent, leading to the death of 14 Patidars in police action.
After the agitation receded following the Modi government’s implementation of 10% quota for EWS sections of non-reserved communities, the only pending demand of the Patidar community before the state government was withdrawal of criminal cases registered against its members during the quota agitation.
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A top source in the government said: “Now, only those cases remain which are not in court and are pending with the police, without a chargesheet being filed. It is possible that the state could close those cases after filing closure reports… Their number would be below 10.”
A Patidar community leader said it was a welcome move by the government. “There was a lot of discontent among the community over this issue. The government had made a promise, but was not fulfilling it completely. The issue was raised every time there was a community event in the state. This will calm the discontent.”
Incidentally, the withdrawal of cases follows a row involving the arrest of a woman member of the Patidar community on the charge of defaming a BJP MLA, after which she was allegedly paraded in public. The government expected the Opposition to raise the issue in the Budget Session of the Gujarat Assembly starting from February 19.
Congress Vadgam MLA and its working president in Gujarat Jignesh Mevani also welcomed the development, while asking when the state government would drop criminal cases registered against Dalits during the Una agitation.
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In 2016, after a group of Dalits were publicly flogged by self-styled cow vigilantes in Una of Gir Somnath district, and the videos went viral, Dalits had protested in huge numbers across the state. Around 75 cases were registered against the protesters.
