The meeting on Thursday between PAAS leader Hardik Patel and Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC, also known as OBC) commission chairperson Sugnaben Bhatt bore no clarity about the reservation for the Patel community.
The leader, who looked perplexed while answering questions, said he approached the commission with a demand of conducting social and financial survey of the community. Patel said he demanded the reservation separately above existing quota of 27% for OBC community.
DNA wanted to know from the leader that if his demand was to get a separate reservation for the community, why did he approach the commission?
Hardik, who asserted that his demand was within the scope of the Constitution, said: "I demand that this commission should conduct a survey of the Patel community. They can recommend the government to give reservation to our community. I demand a quota for the Patel community which is within the scope of the Constitution. Now, the government should look for how they can do this. We do not need to advise them on it because they already have a great team of IAS officers who can advise them."
This showed that Hardik did not have clarity that why he approached the panel for OBC community when he did not wish any reservation for Patel community under OBC quota. He gave a 11-page-long application before the OBC commission chairperson and said the commission had asked him to visit next week.
Hardik also lauded Maharashtra government's decision on reservation for Maratha community and advised Gujarat government to implement the model from neighbouring state for Patel reservation.
The leader said that different groups of his community had represented their voice before the commission, but to no avail.
"There are many applications pending before the commission, but no action has been taken. This is my fresh application and I have demanded that survey should be conducted for the entire Patel community in Gujarat, regardless of their sub-castes. We will meet the chairperson of commission in days to come and will push the demand again," he said.
Hardik Patel demanded that the private member bill by the Congress on the reservation for Patel community should be welcomed by government. "Recently, a BJP MP came up with private member bill in the Parliament on building Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Similarly, we demand the private member bill by BJP in parliament for quota to Patel community," he added.