AHMEDABAD: Patidar quota agitation leader, Hardik Patel , will now form a cadre of pracharaks to launch an intensified campaign against the BJP government. The team of pracharaks will be set up on the lines of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

Hardik, convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), will initially form a team of 2,490 pracharaks (campaigners) who will fan across the state and spread awareness about people’s rights and flaws in implementation of government policies. Hardik will focus mainly on urban areas where Patidars did not vote in large numbers against the BJP during the 2017 state assembly polls.

When contacted, Hardik told TOI that he will create a cadre like that of RSS pracharaks and spread the message about the false claims of development of the BJP governments and its communal politics along with problems facing farmers and youths.

“Initially, we will form teams of 256 leaders in each taluka of Gujarat,” he said.

“The teams will intensify our campaign against the BJP-led central and the state governments. I have already formed a team of social media campaigners to focus on urban youths,” Hardik said. Messages can be spread quickly through social media platforms.

Incidentally, Hardik himself was associated with right-wing organisations like RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) before launching the quota agitation in 2015.

The Patel leader had earlier dissolved the core committee of PAAS and formed a new team of 182 members representing each assembly constituency.

Sources in PAAS said they want to fight the BJP in the rightwing party’s own style. “The RSS had provided support to the BJP in polls and propagated its ideology,” a PAAS member said.

“Hence, we have decided to fight them in their own style. Further, many of our members were either associated with the BJP or the RSS in the past. Hence they know it better and also know how to tackle these forces,” he said.

On being asked about Hardik’s new plans about an RSS-type cadre, Gujarat RSS chief Mukesh Malkan told the TOI said that this is a good initiative by Hardik Patel.

“If someone is imitating our style of functioning, then it is a good thing for them also. Hardik is a small kid. Once he starts functioning like us, he will be able to act like a saint. It will be a good thing for him also,” Malkan said.

Ghanshyam Shah, sociologist, said there are two aspects to this initiative.

“It is possible to have a cadre like the RSS because there is anguish among the people against the government,” he said.

“But we have to accept that the RSS has a definite and concrete ideology while Hardik, who may be a staunch critic of the BJP, is not clear about the alternative. If he is patient and works with the people against the government’s policies, he can make a strong cadre like the RSS,” Shah said.

