July In July 2015 Patidar youth, many of whom are surnamed
Patel, started public demonstrations across Gujarat, demanding OBC status for their community, which would entitle the Patidars to a reserved quota of places in government jobs and education. They were supported by Sardar Patel Sevadal, an organisation for community service, and they formed the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) for this purpose, headed by
Hardik Patel. The organisation described itself as apolitical. Four major Patidar organisations denied any involvement in the agitation, though later the Khodaldham Trust offered to mediate between the youth and the government. The agitation started in
Mehsana on 6 July 2015, and a demonstration was held in
Mansa on 22 July. The demonstration in
Visnagar on 23 July turned violent when some agitators torched some vehicles and vandalised the office of
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rishikesh Patel. Demonstrations were held in
Vijapur and Mehsana on 28 July. The police booked 152 persons for violating prohibitory orders by holding the demonstration.
August Social media helped to spread the protest quickly across the state. in
Gandhinagar,
Navsari,
Jam Jodhpur in Jamnagar district,
Himmatnagar and
Bagasara in Amreli district on 3 August; in
Rajkot on 5 August; in
Amreli on 10 August; in
Junagadh on 12 August; and in
Petlad on 17 August. The demonstration in
Surat on 17 August drew crowds estimated at 100,000 Demonstrations were held in
Surendranagar,
Bharuch,
Ankleshwar and
Vadodara on 21 August. PAAS itself organised 37 rallies by 25 August. In 55 days, 149 rallies were organised by various organisations across the state.
25–31 August The major demonstration, dubbed
Kranti Rally (
Revolution Rally) and held in Ahmedabad on 25 August at the GMDC grounds, was attended by over 500,000. The members of community formed a procession and presented the memorandum of their demands to the District Collector. Hardik Patel, who led the rally, declared he would go on a
hunger strike with others, demanding the Chief Minister personally be present there to receive the memorandum. He was arrested as he did not have permission to stay on the grounds after the rally, and later released. Those present on the grounds were dispersed by the police using force. An inquiry was ordered to investigate the reason behind the police's use of force.
Anandiben Patel and Rajanikant Patel, state leaders, both denied ordering or authorising the police charge on the crowd. Incidents of violence and clashes were reported in Ahmedabad and other parts of the state. The police vehicles and local transport buses of
AMTS and
BRTS were set on fire. At least fifteen cases of clashes and arson were reported. The mob vandalised shops in the CTM area and the police fired eight teargas shells to disperse the mob. There were clashes between members of the
Rabari caste and Patels in Ghatlodiya, where at least ten persons were injured. A large mob tried to damage railway tracks near
Ranip. Many vehicles were damaged. Attacks on police and media personnel were reported. A curfew was imposed in the city under
Section 144.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation suffered damage worth 12 crore including torching of 33 buses of local transport. At least seven ward offices and civic centres were vandalised. Five companies of the
Indian Army were deployed in the city to control the situation. Over 120 people were arrested or detained. A total of 1554 bus trips were cancelled by the Vadodara division of
GSRTC when six buses were damaged. In Rajkot,
BRTS bus stations were torched and stones thrown; damage to public and private property was estimated at 1.47 crore. The mob ransacked two offices of Union Minister of State for Agriculture and local MP
Mohan Kundariya; police fired 10 rounds in the air and lobbed 57 shells of teargas to disperse mobs. Twelve policemen were injured. The police filed 18
FIRs related to incidents. A curfew was imposed for 48 hours on 26 August. Curfew was also imposed in parts of
Mehsana district including Mehsana, Visnagar and
Unjha after a mob stoned and torched the house of minister Rajni Patel, Home minister Nitin Patel, and BJP
MLA Jayshree Patel. The district police lodged 25 FIRs and 13 cases over various instances of violence and rioting, and 36 persons were identified. At least 22 people were arrested in the cases; three of them were released on bail. Vandalism was also reported from
Morbi and
Amreli. A curfew was also imposed in Patan for two days. 3500 paramilitary force personnel and 93 companies of the state reserve police were deployed. A youth died in police custody in Bapunagar, Ahmedabad. Across the state, 295 FIRs were filed and 650 people arrested. According to Western Railways, the tracks were damaged at eight places by mobs, resulting in cancellation of 51 trains. The operation of 26 trains were affected, while 15 trains were diverted out of the state. The Police department suffered damage of 200 crore. On 26 August, agitators called for a one-day statewide shutdown. The state returned to normalcy by 28 August. Hardik Patel declared the intention of expanding the agitation to the other states of India. As he received support from various
Jat,
Kurmi and
Gujjar community organisations, he declared campaign for petitions to be sent to the Prime Minister. Rallies were organised in
Karamsad and in
Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, on 31 August but did not attract great support. According to PAAS, a total of 457 FIRs were filed against 1482 Patidars across Gujarat in the three days after 25 August rally.
September The internet block was lifted in Ahmedabad and Surat on 1 September. PAAS announced that they will organise a march on the reverse route, from
Dandi to Ahmedabad, of
Mahatma Gandhi's historic
Salt March in 1930. The
heads of 33 village nearby Dandi opposed the march. The
collector for
Navsari district denied permission for the march. The march was rescheduled to 13 September but the government denied permission, and PAAS called the march off. Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti spokesperson Nikhil Savani On 9 September Patel announced a new organisation, Patel Navnirman Sena (PNS), for nationwide extension of the agitation. Patel met former Chief Minister
Keshubhai Patel prior to a meeting with government members on 14 September. 20 Patidar representatives led by Hardik Patel and Lalji Patel the meeting, which was chaired by the Chief Minister and attended by cabinet ministers. The issues discussed included the police action on 25 August, scholarship schemes for general category students, compensation to people died in violence, and release of arrested people. In a symbolic boycott, Patidars withdrew large amounts of cash from Kherol and Vadrad branches of Sabarkantha District Central Cooperative Bank of
Sabarkantha district. Hardik Patel announced that they would organise rallies in
Madhya Pradesh and
Bihar in October 2015, a month before the
Bihar state legislative assembly election . On 19 September police detained Hardik Patel and 35 of his supporters from the Varachha area of Surat for trying to hold the
Ekta Yatra (Unity March) rally without receiving prior permission from authorities. They were booked under section 188 of the
IPC for defying police notification, and two FIRs were filed against them. They were released on bail later. There were some incidents of protests, arson, property damage and road blocks in several cities and towns, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Morbi,
Navsari,
Botad, Visnagar, Mehsana and
Jamnagar. A Patidar mob clashed with a Rabari community in the Rabari Colony area of Ahmedabad. In Surat and Morbi, two GSRTC buses were damaged. In several places police used teargas and caning to disperse mobs. The internet on mobile phones, social media and SMS service was blocked again for 24 hours in several parts of the state, including Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. Twelve companies each of the
BSF and
RAF were deployed to control the violence. On 19 September, police in Mehsana arrested 35 protesters and lodged a complaint against them. On 22 September at least 20 Patidar leaders were arrested and FIR filed against them when they held a meeting without police permission in Tenpur village of Bayad Taluka,
Aravalli district. Hardik Patel briefly disappeared from the meeting and appeared the next day. The High Court termed the disappearance as a 'publicity stunt' and warned about
contempt of court. The government also announced its intention to increase intake in medical and engineering education, and infrastructure such as student hostels. The scheme is expected to cost the exchequer 1,000 crore per year. The Patidar community in the US initially planned to hold large protests in
New York during the visit of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, but later called them off, except for some people who protested at
United Nations headquarters and in
California. Hardik Patel called the scheme as a "
lollipop" and said it does not meet their demands, and launched a "lollipop movement" in which lollipops were distributed to community members across the state. On 26 September activist Umesh Patel from Rajkot committed suicide in support of the agitation; the state Government ordered the inquiry in the case. The Sardar Patel Seva Charitable Trust, a Patidar doctors' group from Gujarat and abroad, announced financial help of Rs 1 crore to kin of each person who died in the agitation. Umiya Mata Sansthan, a major organisation of the community, announced their support to the agitation on 28 September. Nine protestors arrested in Himatnagar for holding protest fasts on 4 September were later released on bail.
October On 1 October the
Indian National Congress Party announced its support for the agitation. More people were arrested in cases related to the riots, and two policemen were suspended in the case of custodial death of a youth on 25 August. Some Patidar community members protested the presence of politicians at
Garba venues during the
Navratri festival in October. They also protested at functions attended by politicians. In many places across the state women of the Patidar community clanked (rolling pins) against
thalis (steel plates) as a sign of protest. Hardik Patel threatened to stage a protest at the
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and to block the way of cricket players at the third one-day international cricket match between India and South Africa in Rajkot on 18 October 2015. More than 8000 police personnel were deployed in the city, while 2500 police and 500 private security personnel were deployed in the stadium. Internet services were blocked from the night of 17 October to the morning of 19 October. Hardik Patel was arrested along with six others on the day. There were protests against Hardik's detention in Surat and
Bardoli, and a GSRTC bus was set on fire in
Morbi; Hardik Patel and five other PAAS leaders were booked by Ahmedabad police under
Indian Penal Code Sections 121 (waging war against the government), 121A (using criminal force against the government), 124 (sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities), 120B (conspiracy) and 153-B (assertions prejudicial to national integrity). Surat police booked Hardik Patel under sedition charges for telling a youth to kill policemen instead of committing suicide. Gujarat High Court refused to quash cases of sedition against Hardik Patel on 27 October.
November–December Local civic elections were held across Gujarat in November 2015. Several Patidar leaders urged voting against ruling
BJP candidates and supporting
INC candidates. The result of election showed that the rural and lower-middle-class Patidars probably moved to INC from BJP in large numbers while urban middle-class Patidars continued to vote BJP. ==Agitation in 2016==