–TMC Desk
Gandhinagar, 26 December 2017: Patels of Saurashtra are so upset with their brethren in Surat for letting them down that they have vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to them.
While Patels of Saurashtra, like in several other places in Gujarat voted for the Congress those of Surat, like in the past, threw their lot behind the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While the Congress did exceedingly well in Saurahstra in Surat district the BJP won 14 out of 16 seats.
In Saurashtra the BJP won only 23 out of 56 seats, that is down by 13 seats since 2012. In contrast the Congress tally improved by 15 seats in this region.
Besides, Patel had sizeable population in north and central Gujarat too.
According to Indian Express columnist Coomi Kapoor “The poll results suggest that the Patels were sharply divided. In fact, only two of the six Patel candidates endorsed by Hardik won. The Patels of Surat voted overwhelmingly for the BJP. The Patels of north Gujarat were divided between the two parties. It was only in Saurashtra that the Patels voted en bloc for the Congress.
“The whole of Saurashtra, not just the Patels, was against the ruling party because of the agrarian distress. In fact, Hardik succeeded in converting a campaign against incumbency into a caste battle.”
She concluded in her Sunday column: “Saurashtra’s Patels are so furious with their brethren in Surat for letting them down that they have vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to Surat Patels or carry prized gifts of ghee and butter milk (chaas) to Surat.”
Gujaratis, in particular Patels, are a global community. If Patels of Saurashtra have really vowed not to give their daughters to marriage to Patels of Surat it would certainly be something very unusual.
They were expecting their brothers in Surat to vote against the BJP as there was a lot of resentment in that city. Only a few months back traders of Surat had launched a big agitation against the government. They were unhappy with the manner in which GST was implemented and demonetization was carried out.
It seems that the voters of Surat changed their mind in the final moment.
**
