1000 Patel students to boycott schools for leaders' release

Mehsana: Parents of over 1,000 students here today threatened that they will not send their wards to primary and secondary schools until their community leaders, including quota spearhead Hardik Patel, are released from jail.

Announcing their decision, the Patel residents of Umata, Kansa and Valam villages in Visnagar taluka asked their children not to attend schools till the community leaders are freed.

There are around 10 primary and secondary schools in these three villages, which have a sizable population of Patels. Meanwhile, the announcement send local authorities as well school principals into a tizzy who tried to convince the parents. "Students of the Patel community suddenly left the school today and went home.

Their parents told us that their children will not return till Patel leaders are freed. "We are trying our best to convince them, as the boycott will adversely affect the students' future," said Jeetu Patel, principal of a school based in Kansa.

Hardik, the young face of the quota agitation, and other leaders are lodged in jail, some of them under charges of sedition.