AHMEDABAD: Patidars seem to be angling for a ‘Nav Nirman’ for the reservation stir as they make an entry into campuses. In a first, the young Patel leadership under the aegis of Sardar Patel Group has organized an opinion meet on Gujarat University campus on Thursday.

On the agenda is to call Patel students to boycott classes and voluntarily effect a bandh in GU and GTU colleges on August 25. Patels have given a clarion call for biggest ‘maharally’ in Ahmedabad for a show of strength. Ironically, brahmins and other higher caste communities announced parallel rallies seeking reservation. An umbrella forum uniting OBCs that come under reservation have also announced rallies against Patel’s demands.

Rashmikant Patel, general secretary of SPG-led Sardar Patel Sevadal-Gandhinagar, said, “We called a meeting of all Patidar students and leaders to discuss strategy for effecting an educational bandh on August 25 to support the maharally.”

The venue of the meet is near the canteen in GU — not very far from the LD Engineering canteen where the famed ‘Nav Nirman Movement’ was launched in 1974 by students against 20% hike in food bill. Later joined by the middle class people against economic crisis and corruption, it was the only successful agitation in history of independent India that led to dissolution of an elected Chimanbhai Patel government. Estimates suggest Patel students comprise over 35% of nearly four lakh students studying in GU and GTU campuses.