Patels withdrawing money from cooperative banks, a move designed to rattle the government.
Babubhai Patel, a retired government servant arrived early at the bank in his village of Kherol in North Gujarat today, ready to make a withdrawal.
He emptied out his account in a sign of protest. ''It doesn't matter if I loose out on the interest I am withdrawing two lakhs fixed deposit from the bank. Only if we stop cooperating economically government will understand our issue.'' said Babubhai
The 70-year-old is part of thousands members of the Patedar or Patel community, traditionally wealthy and powerful, who have coalesced around 22-year-old Hardik Patel to demand a share of government jobs and university places.
To prove they will pull the support they have traditionally extended to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Patels are withdrawing money from cooperative banks, a move designed to rattle the government.
In Patel-dominated Vadrad village in north Gujarat, a bank reported that Rs 27 lakh were withdrawn on a single day on Monday. Today at Kherol village, about 15 km from Vadrad, Patel investors queued up to withdraw.
A few weeks ago, Hardik Patel executed a near-complete takeover of Ahmedabad with a massive rally that was followed with his brief arrest and two days of violence in towns including Surat and Vadodara.
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has said that the state cannot rework its policy to create room for the Patels among the castes that benefit from affirmative action.
The Patels, who make up 14 per cent of Gujarat's 60 million people, were originally land-owning farmers who branched out into trades like diamond polishing. But they say their youth is now being excluded from university education and government jobs, which are reserved for castes seen as far more backward and in need of integration into the mainstream.
Hardik Patel says Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led Gujarat as Chief Minister for 13 years, failed to create a development model in his home state that benefits all castes and classes, opting instead for policies that helped big business, a criticism also leveled by opposition parties like the Congress.