Gujarat Admn Gears UP To Foil Reverse Dandi March By Patels
12 September ,Navsari
All entry points to Navsari from the adjoining Surat district have been placed under close watch by the police to prevent any heavy influx of supporters of pro-Patel quota to participate in the ‘Reverse Dandi March’ tomorrow. The reverse Dandi march was planned by the 22-year-old agitation leader Hardik Patel in defiance of the ban by the authorities.
The administration has deployed a large contingent of police and para military forces to foil any attempt by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) to take out the 350-km-long march from the historic Dandi of Mahatma Gandhis salt satygraha fame to the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad to press for the demand of reservation for the affluent Patel community on par with the other backward classes (OBCs).
The authorities are anticipating influx of pro-quota supporters from Surat which has a sizable population of members of the Patel community who are largely engaged in the diamond industry as polishers and traders. The pro-reservation agitation had received good response in Surat city with over half a million people having attended a rally recently.
The district administration has banned mobile Internet services from midnight as a preventive measure against the use of social media for mobilization of agitators and spreading of rumors.
What has become a matter of great concern for the administration from the point of maintenance of law and order is the resolve by the OBCs of 70 coastal villages to take out counter rallies if the PAAS takes out the march tomorrow. We will take all possible measures to prevent the rallies, both by PAAS and the OBCs, said Navsari district collector Remya Mohan who has refused permission for the rival rallies.
”We have rejected all the three applications. The one from PAAS, another from one Kaushik Patel, a representative of the 70 nearby villages for Pratikar rally or protest march against the PAAS agitation and yet another such request from the local fishermen community,” Ms Mohan said. (EDS: Pick up suitably from BY 18).