Hardik Patel takes dig at PM Modi over Gujarat 'development model'

Ratlam: In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patel quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel on Sunday said Modi became the PM of the country by eulogising the Gujarat model of development, although the state was no different from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

"By eulogising the Gujarat model of development, one has become the Prime Minister of the country. But the fact is that the state (Gujarat) is like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh," he said.

"Many farmers have ended their lives in Gujarat in the last two months. Talented youths are not getting opportunity to become engineers and doctors in Gujarat," he said, adding that although the state is considered prosperous, it can boast of only a few wealthy people.

Referring to the PM's recent visit to the Facebook campus in the US, where he broke down and got emotional while talking about the sacrifices his mother made as he grew up, Hardik said the PM should take his mother along with him.

"The man who claims of having 56-inches chest breaks down remembering his mother. If he remembers his mother so much on foreign soil, why doesn't he take her with him?"

Talking about the Patidar quota issue, he said the community has 14 per cent reservation in Madhya Pradesh, while it was 27 per cent in other states. "Does Madhya Pradesh lie in Pakistan? In some districts of MP, Patidars are not reaping the benefits of reservation. Are these districts in China?" he asked in a lighter vein.

He said that no member of his community has become a Rajya Sabha member after Independence and recalled that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who belonged to his community, held the country together.

He said 80 per cent Patidars were with BJP. "If Patidars do not get respect, lotus will not bloom in the country in future (BJP will not come to power)," he said.