Hardik Patel, the face of the Patidar agitation, on Monday announced a fresh around of agitation after returning from Delhi and claimed he had successfully gathered “27 crore signatures” from the Gujjars and the Kurmis.
“We will start the agitation from Surat tomorrow. We will focus more on taluka and village level this time,” Patel told reporters in Ahmedabad.
Hardik claimed support from various other community outfits such as Gujjar Vikas Parishad, Akhil Bharatiya Kurmi Kshatriya Mahasabha, Akhil Bharatiya Chaudhary Anjana Samaj, Loh Purush Yuva Sangthan (Gujarat), Yuva Gujjar Manch and Rashtriya Gujjar Manch (Madhya Pradesh).
He said the Patidar agitation would continue to be “operated” from Gujarat. He said,
“People from across the country have supported us and very soon a rally would be carried out from Lucknow in support of this. Till now, we used to have support from within Gujarat. Now, people from outside Gujarat will also support us. There are 27 crore Gujjars and Kurmis in the country. There will be signatures on an application. 27 crore signatures will be given to the Prime Minister.”
On the future course of action, Hardik said it would be announced Tuesday after meetings of the Samiti members in various talukas and districts. Surat unit convener of Samiti Alpesh Katheriya said that during a meeting with Hardik, it was decided to ensure that the agitation remains peaceful.
“This time we are coming up in a different and well-planned way. We will disclose our future steps after organising press conference in Surat on Tuesday afternoon.”