A day after resigning from the Congress, Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Thursday said that he “wasted” three years of his life in the grand old party and called it the “biggest casteist party” in the country. In his resignation letter, Hardik had alleged that Congress has no interest in Gujarat as it just opposed policies and programs and never became an option to the ruling party that people are looking for.
Addressing his first press conference in Ahmedabad after resigning from the party, Hardik said he has not taken any decision yet on joining any other party, be it the ruling BJP in Gujarat or the new entrant AAP.
“I have come in front of the media for the first time after resigning from the Congress. I joined Congress, I felt that I would be able to do good work for the people whose dreams I am carrying with me. In 2017 and 2015, many youths like me came together having hopes of some good work when the Congress is in opposition,” he told media.
“I have not been given any responsibility in the Congress as an executive for two years,” Patel said, adding, “I have come to discuss with an open mind and I have campaigned for the people very honestly. Congress is the biggest casteist party. People have benefited from our movement. Congress only embraces the policy of abusing people and throwing them out. Narhari Amin, Chimanbhai Patel were expelled from the Congress. Speaking truth in Congress costs very dearly as some people do defamation if someone tries to do so,” he added.
Patel has claimed that Congress had no vision and that the leaders of the party were biased against the Gujarati people. “In Gujarat, whether it’s the Patidar community or any other community, they have had to suffer in Congress. Speak the truth in Congress and big leaders will defame you and that is their strategy,” Patel said.
The leader said seven to eight people “have been running the Congress for 33 years”. According to Patel, activists like him travelled 500-600 km daily but if he went among the people and tried to know their situation, big leaders attempted to disrupt this effort by “sitting in the AC chambers”.
Patel (28) further said that whenever Congress leader Rahul Gandhi comes to Gujarat, the leaders did not tell him about the problems the people of the state are facing but they are “worried which chicken sandwich should be given to Gandhi”.
“I had spoken to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and mentioned Gujarat’s problems. He asked me and I told him. That’s when I was ignored. I decided to leave the party not with sadness but courage,” he said, adding, “I have wasted three years in Congress. I apologise to all the people I went to and asked them to vote for Congress. When I was about to join Congress, many people told me not to join, I have to apologise to them too.”
In his resignation letter, he had alleged that even after several efforts, the party failed to act in the national interest and for society. Congress was an obstacle on issues like article 370, CAA-NRC, and implementation of the GST. These were people’s aspirations and the need of the hour for which the Congress should have played a positive role, but it did not, Patel had said. The former Congress leader also reiterated his charges, and said the party had never done “solution politics” only “opposition politics”.
Congress Defends Itself, Blames BJP
Soon after Hardik’s resignation, the opposition party alleged that the BJP has “lured” the Patidar leader by promising to get cases against him withdrawn and has “scripted” his resignation letter.
Congress leader and party spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil also launched a scathing attack on Hardik, calling him “dishonest” and an “opportunist”, and claimed that youth leaders who have switched to the BJP have been reduced to “zero”. Hardik, who gained prominence in 2015 after he led the agitation seeking reservation for the Patidar community and was made the Gujarat Congress working president in July 2020, has accused its top leadership of behaving as if they hated Gujarat and Gujaratis.
“Hardik Patel has not written anything and his resignation letter has clearly been dictated by the BJP… the pen and the face are ours and the script is that of the BJP. It (resignation letter)is completely bogus and has no truth in it,” Gohil told reporters.
The development has come as a jolt to the Congress which is seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in Gujarat where assembly elections are due in the next few months. Gohil said the Congress gave opportunities to youth leader Hardik Patel and made him the working president of the Gujarat Congress, but he was “lured” by the BJP.
“The BJP has got Hardik Patel to resign by using all means, including getting a CD on him, and used agencies like Enforcement Directorate and CBI and used all measures that were below the belt,” he alleged.
“There are cases of sedition, rioting and many others and he can’t contest elections,” he said and claimed the BJP government has approached the High Court to take back the cases against him. “Since then this plot was clear that Hardik Patel is moving with the BJP to get cases against him withdrawn,” he said.
Read all the Latest Politics News here
Comments
0 comment