‘Will take Hardik’s agitation to national level’

Ahmedabad :  Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Tuesday called on fasting Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel and said that they will take his agitation over the demand for reservation for Patels and farm debt waiver to the national level.

On Energy Minister Saurabh Patel’s remarks that Hardik’s indefinite fast was backed by the opposition Congress and that the state was doing its best for the Patel community and farmers, Shatrughan Sinha said that all political parties were supporting the fasting leader.

“The whole country is moved by Hardik’s fast, except the governments at the Centre and the state,” Yashwant Sinha told reporters. Yashwant Sinha resigned from the BJP in April.

Both leaders said they had extended support to Hardik on his demands.

“The farmers issues raised by Hardik are not confined to Gujarat but are relevant to the whole country. Farmers are in deep distress and the situation requires a permanent solution. I appeal to everyone, including the opposition, to raise the issues of farmers across the country,” Yashwant Sinha said.

Rubbishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that Gujarat was a model state, Shatrughan Sinha said there was nothing like a Gujarat model. “The Gujarat model has failed. Now, you are not going to get bonus (in 2019 elections),” he said.

According to medical reports, Hardik has lost around 20kg ever since he began his fast 11 days ago and his condition continues to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, Gujarat’s six religious organisations of the Patels discussed the issues arising out of Hardik’s agitation and offered to mediate or help him end his fast. Their leaders later in the evening rushed to state capital Gandhinagar for a meeting with BJP Ministers from the community to discuss the situation.

Published on: Sep 4, 2018 at 21:04 IST

IANS