The Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat that began in early 2015 saw its largest rally on August 25, 2015, at the GMDC grounds in Ahmedabad.Before the 10th anniversary of that rally, The Indian Express tracked down a few key figures of the movement, which was led by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), to recall their roles in the agitation and share how the movement helped their political careers.Dinesh Bambhaniya, 44, social worker Dinesh BambhaniyaHe was among the core members of PAAS, which was formed by Patidar youth leaders as the movement intensified, and was seen as a confidant of Hardik Patel. Bambhaniya says he was among the five persons who formed PAAS on August 18, 2015, around a week before the historic public meeting of the Patidar community at GMDC Ground in Ahmedabad on August 25, 2015. Lakhs of Patidar community people from across the state had thronged the public meeting that went violent late in the evening after the police action on the protesters who were demanding OBC status for the Patidar community.Bambhaniya says that the wiping out of the ruling BJP from almost all district panchayats and nagarpalikas in the elections held later that year was because of the quota agitation.“It also brought a huge embarrassment to the BJP-ruled Gujarat government nationally, as they were in power for so many years and yet a prominent community was out on the roads seeking reservation (on economic grounds). Their (BJP’s) tall claims were seriously affected,” says Bambhaniya.Bambhaniya is not formally attached to any political party and calls himself a social worker.“I think the biggest benefit of the agitation was the unity of the Leuva and Kadva sub-castes of the Patidar community. They have become one now,” he says.Story continues below this adBambhaniya is currently leading a campaign against elopement and marriages of young girls without the consent of their parents.“It is our demand that marriage should not be registered without the consent of the parents, and if there is some legal issue in doing that, then it should be done in the village of the girl only after giving a 30-day notice to her parents. We are doing Jan Samarthan Yatra in various parts of the state to spread awareness about the issue,” Bambhaniya says.Varun Patel, 43, member, Gujarat BJP media team Varun PatelCurrently, a member of Gujarat BJP’s media team, Varun Patel was then playing the role of media coordinator and spokesperson of PAAS. “I performed the role till all the noted leaders of the agitation were arrested and sent to jail. However, after that, I handled the agitation programs for eight months. The agitation had slowed down, I revived it while collecting workers from different parts of the state,” says Varun Patel, who was among people from the agitation who joined the BJP ahead of the crucial 2017 Gujarat assembly elections.He says, “The major impact of the agitation is that it changed the politics of Gujarat. Before that, nobody would dare to question the government. Now, every community has the moral strength to question the government. After the Patidar andolan, the politics of Gujarat became competitive. The agitation also gave young leadership to the state.”Story continues below this ad“And personally, had I not been part of the agitation, my identity (in the BJP) could have been that of a common party worker. But today, my identity is bigger than a minister. A big section of society knows me,” Varun Patel adds.Reshma Patel, 40, state president, AAP Women’s wing Reshma PatelShe was the woman face of the Patidar quota agitation. “The agitation started with a bang. Then I was a mere spectator. However, when the top leaders were arrested and sent to jail, a point came when the agitation started dying. And then I decided to join it and started a hunger strike for 21 days, demanding the release of the leaders of the agitation. I participated in a number of anti-BJP programs and campaigns. I was also arrested in a case and stayed in jail for one month,” says Reshma Patel.“The Patidar agitation was a community’s agitation. However, it had an impact on all the communities. It brought awareness among other communities as well. It is due to this agitation that Gujarat got self-made leaders from different communities. People have realised that they will have to raise their voice to get their rights,” she adds.Reshma Patel further says that she owes her identity as a political leader to the agitation. “It is very difficult to become such a well-known person in such a short time. Now, government officials take me seriously, and they have to listen to what I say. It is all due to the Patidar agitation,” she says.Story continues below this adIn 2017, like Varun Patel, Reshma Patel, too, had joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections. Later, she quit the BJP and joined the Nationalist Congress Party and is now with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).Manoj Panara, 45, state general secretary, Congress Manoj PanaraHe was a close aide of Hardik Patel and spearheaded the Morbi leg of the agitation in Saurashtra. Panara says, “I was connected with the agitation from the beginning. Initially, we had carried out a big rally in Morbi. Then on August 25, 2015, we attended the public meeting at the GMDC Ground of Ahmedabad. In the subsequent clashes that broke out (between agitators and the police), around 8-10 cases were registered against me in Morbi as the main accused. I was arrested and stayed in jail for around one and a half months. Eventually, I got bail from the Gujarat High Court.”According to Panara, he was with Hardik Patel in October 2015 when the PAAS threatened to disrupt the international cricket match between India and South Africa in Rajkot as part of the Patidar reservation agitation. Hardik Patel was slapped with a case of insulting the Tricolour while trying to reach the stadium disguised as a farmer. The case was later withdrawn by the state government.Panara says that when Hardik Patel was arrested, he led the Patidar Ekta Yatra from Umiya Mata Temple in Sidsar of Jamnagar to Khodaldham in Rajkot.Story continues below this adAsked about the impact of the agitation on Gujarat’s politics, Panara says, “Any agitation is the mother of new leaders. Similarly, following the Patidar agitation, Gujarat saw the emergence of leaders like Hardik, Alpesh Thakor, Jignesh Mevani, etc. The biggest gain of the agitation was 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections.”Panara was among those leaders of the agitation who had joined the Congress along with Hardik Patel before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, Panara did not follow Hardik Patel to the BJP and chose to stay back.He says he developed differences with Hardik Patel, and they parted ways.Panara was also appointed the state general secretary of the Congress in Gujarat.Story continues below this ad“However, recently, I have orally informed the party to relieve me of that responsibility. I want to be active socially rather than politically. But my heart is very much with the Congress, and I continue to be a primary member of the party,” Panara says.Like many other leaders of Patidar agitation, Panara is also active in the campaign that seeks the government to change the law to either make parents’ consent mandatory in a girl’s marriage registration or to make it compulsory to register the marriage in the girl’s village with 30 days’ prior notice to her parents.Dharmik Malaviya, 31, member, BJP Dharmik MalviyaHe was among the co-convenors of PAAS. “Hardik Patel was facing pressure not to attend the meeting. We, all co-convenors, hatched a plan and got him to reach the Mini Bazaar area, where he was taken atop an open decorated tempo, till the end of the rally. The Surat team of co-convenors was given the responsibility of carrying out the meeting at the GMDC ground in Ahmedabad. We all worked hard, keeping in mind security arrangements and awareness among the community people,” he says.He also thinks the agitation united the Kadva and Leuva Patidars, and after the agitation, both the Congress and the BJP are giving more importance to Patidars.Story continues below this ad“Our agitation had helped the Congress party in the 2017 elections win 77 seats,” says Malaviya, who joined the AAP in 2022, and unsuccessfully contested the Olpaad assembly seat in Surat. In 2024, he joined the BJP in the presence of state party president C R Paatil.He describes the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana (MYSY) scheme as one of the biggest gains of the Patidar agitation, from which not only Patidars but also other communities benefited.“We were fighting against the ruling BJP government. We were secretly receiving support from the Congress party during our agitation. We came in contact with political leaders and had good chemistry with them. We supported the Congress party candidate in the local and assembly elections. Later, we had a conflict with a Congress leader over ticket distribution. In the 2021 civic body election, we supported the AAP, as a result of which the AAP got 27 candidates elected in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections,” he says.Malaviya claims he continues to be an accused in 12 cases booked during the agitation, while the rest were withdrawn.Story continues below this adAlpesh Katheriya, 31, BJP member and convenor of Khodaldham Trust Alpesh KatheriyaHe says he was among the key planners of the Surat rally: “Hardik Patel had no support from SPG (The Sardar Patel Group, which was the parent group of the Patidars). It was the Surat rally that gave a kick to the Patidar movement. In the beginning, I was co-convenor, and after Hardik Patel was sent to Jail in Surat in 2016, I took full responsibility for PAAS and took the movement further. Since 2017, I have been the convenor of PAAS in Gujarat.”Katheriya also joined the AAP in 2022 and unsuccessfully contested the Varachha assembly seat in Surat. Two years later, he joined the BJP.Katheriya says, “In the past 30 years, before the agitation, there was no such social movement in Gujarat. Due to this movement, 10 to 12 lakhs gathered and participated in different meetings. The power of Patidars was shown to the political parties in the state, which they had earlier neglected. The Patidars were given importance and given tickets in the elections of the local body, state body, and national body.“We were young and did not know much about politics, but we were the public face, and people liked us. Earlier, we had no political ambition, but later we understood that, for the benefit of the community, we should have representation in the political parties.”Katheriya says he faced 21 cases, including two sedition cases. Eleven cases are still on in the courts, while the remaining have been withdrawn. Among the two sedition cases, one case has been withdrawn while the other is still going on in the court,” he further says.