Hardik and the rewarding field of reservation politics

With the kind of marks he got at the university, it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to imagine that Hardik, who I assume is a Patel, will land a decent job if he decently goes about looking for one. Which is why, perhaps, he aptly chose the dynamic and rewarding field of reservation politics. If the initial signs are to be believed Hardik has had quite a launch. As I write this, nine people have lost their life in the mass hooliganism that followed Hardik’s huge show of strength. The army has been called to maintain order.

But instigating violence is hardly a sign of a sharp political brain. What makes Hardik a truly talented politician is the sheer outrageousness of his demands. He has successfully transformed the already perverted concept of affirmative action.

The Patel community’s demand for reservation is an excellent example of how the theory of reservation and affirmative action can be perverted to the extent that it no longer remains tragic but appears wholly farcical. The violent protest also brilliantly exemplifies how tenuous Modi’s grip on Gujarat has become barely 15 months after taking over the reins in Delhi.

For the record, Patels practically rule Gujarat: the Chief Minister is a Patel along with seven of her cabinet colleagues. But 22-year-old Hardik wants them to be classified as backward and benefit from reservation. Even as the whole country is figuring out how to wrap their heads around this one, there is solid support for Hardik from Bihar politicians who have never allowed stupidity to interrupt their real politick.

By showing us a side of Gujarat we always knew existed but did not know where to find, Hardik has been able to create political ammunition where none hitherto existed. For more than two decades Gujarat has been a laboratory for Hindutva politics in the country. This is where Hindutva forces, particularly the RSS, designed programmes and policies to unite Hindus as a single force overcoming economic and caste barriers. The Patel uprising has fractured the unity and exposed the myth of developed Gujarat. If the Patels are not flourishing in Gujarat, where they comprise 15 per cent of the electorate, then what does it say about Gujarat and, as a corollary, what does it say about Superpower India?

Comprehensively exploding the myth of Gujarat as a state with development and a decisive leadership, Hardik could not have appeared at a worse time.

This is perhaps the toughest moment Modi has faced so far in his term: markets are crashing; defence personnel are starving themselves to death demanding One Rank One Pension; and talks with Pakistan have failed with all fingers pointing at the PMO. Unfortunately for the PM, the usual suspects, the forces he has been trained to point a gun at in times of trouble, are from the scene of crime this time around.

No matter who is backing him openly or clandestinely, what cannot be denied, and this is what makes him special to many, is that Hardik is the angry face of young Gujarat. Coming of age in the Modi years, Hardik and his generation have had a first hand experience of what Gujarat has become.