Gujarat government withdraws nine cases against Hardik Patel, others over Patidar reservation stir

The cases including two that accused Hardik Patel of sedition were registered when he was fronting the Patidar reservation stir

The Gujarat government has decided to withdraw nine cases filed in connection with the Patidar quota agitation of 2015, minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi said on Friday.

Hardik Patel said that the decision would benefit many youths (X/HardikPatel_)

“Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has decided to withdraw nine cases related to the Patidar quota agitation. Investigation into these cases have been completed, and chargesheets were also filed,” Sanghavi told reporters today.

Hardik Patel, the face of the quota agitation who is now Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Viramgam, said the government has decided to withdraw all cases, including two sedition cases registered against him and other accused filed in 2015 and 2016 during their fight for reservation.

Patel said that the decision would benefit many youths, as some complaints had been filed against crowds numbering in the thousands.

Patel announced the government decision on Friday morning. In a post on X, Patel said in Hindi, “Chief minister Bhupendra Patel led government has decided to withdraw the serious cases, including the ones on sedition, registered during the Patidar agitation in Gujarat against Patidar community youths including me. On behalf of the community, I thank the BJP government of Gujarat.”

“It was due to the Patidar agitation that a commission and corporation were formed in Gujarat for non-reserved classes. The Yuva Swamlamban Yojana worth ₹1,000 crore got implemented and the upper castes got a benefit of 10% reservation on an economic basis,” Patel said.

After the large-scale violence in Gujarat after the Patel community’s mega rally at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad on August 25, 2015, the police had arrested Hardik Patel and three of his aides and booked them under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

The Surat police filed another sedition case against Hardik Patel after he allegedly told a young member of his community to kill policemen instead of taking his own life, amid the Patel quota stir.

Hardik Patel, who was the convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) at the time of the agitation, supported the Congress in 2017 elections but later joined the BJP and in 2022 Gujarat assembly elections contested on BJP party ticket from Viramgam constituency and won.