AHMEDABAD, FEB 10
Patidar community leader and Gujarat Congress leader Hardik Patel’s wife Kinjal here on Monday claimed her husband was untraceable since his release from jail on January 24. He was arrested on January 18.
Kinjal said he had not made any contact with the family though he had tweeted about his release. “Has been released from detention of dictatorship. But what’s my fault,” he had tweeted on January 24.
Charging the “government machinery” for Patel’s disappearance, Kinjal said the family was being harassed by the government.
“My husband was arrested and sent to jail in many cases. On several occasions, as soon as he came out of jail, he was rearrested and put behind the bars in some other case. Don’t you think this is harassment,” Kinjal said.
Fearing for her husband’s life, Kinjal claimed the police often visited her house at odd hours.
Responding to her allegations, Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha said: “Is this a topic to talk on? I don’t think he (Hardik Patel) deserves a comment. He is not worth it.”
However, Kinjal’s claims have created a ripple and are being talked about in the police and the political circles – from Gujarat to Delhi. The Ahmedabad Police have been maintaining a studied silence on her allegations.
Patel had earlier tweeted “that he will not bow down” apparently referring to the BJP.
Meanwhile, the Patidar Anamat Andolan sources said they were unable to establish any contact with Patel. “Nobody knows if he has gone underground or what,” said a leader.
The Congress has said the Gujarat Police were misusing their power and had charged the Patidar leader in several cases.
The Patidar leaders’ meeting was organised to put pressure on the state government to withdraw around 1,500 cases lodged against people who took part in the Patidar quota agitation in 2015. That year, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti had launched protests to demand the Other Backward Class status and 27% reservation in government jobs and education for the community.
Patel spent nine months in jail – October 2015 to July 2016 – in connection with the sedition case before being granted bail. Two years later, in November 2018, the court framed charges against him and the other accused. After his arrest, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat. “Hardik Patel, who has been fighting for the employment of the youth and farmers’ right, is being frequently harassed by the BJP,” she tweeted. Patel had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
