Patel quota row: Now, Hardik says 'reverse' Dandi March only after Gujarat govt nod

In a sort of climbdown, the Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Thursday said the proposed "reverse" Dandi march from Dandi to Sabarmati Ashram will take off only after government grants permission for the programme. Hardik's Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) had earlier vowed to organise the march later this week even without the requisite permission. "Dandi yatra will commence only after state government's nod and the dates for it will be decided once the approval is given for it," said Hardik, who is convener of PAAS.

Announcing 'Patidar Anamat Kooch' on Tuesday to scale up the Patel agitation, PAAS core committee member Dinesh Patel had said the march will be organised on the same route where historic Dandi March had been led by Mahatma Gandhi. He had said the 'Kooch' will be organised on the 350-km route that was once taken by Gandhi, but in reverse direction.

"Instead of going to Dandi from Ahmedabad (like Gandhi), we will start our march from Dandi and arrive at Ahmedabad. As per our tentative schedule, it will be organised from either on September 5 or 6," he had said. Hardik's detention at GMDC ground here on August 25 had set off massive violence, claiming ten lives and imposition of curfew in many parts of the state.