Congress leader, Hardik Patel is yet again facing legal trouble, this time in connection with a 2015 sedition case. He has been sent to judicial custody after getting arrested for failing to appear before a Court in Ahmedabad in connection with the sedition case.
DCP Rajdeepsinh Zala (Cyber Crime) has confirmed that Patel was arrested Viramgam taluka of the city. He said, “We have arrested Haridk Patel from near Viramgam after the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him. We will produce him before the court tomorrow.”
While Patel has been arrested on a court order, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has somehow seen a political angle behind it. She tweeted, “The BJP is repeatedly harassing young Hardik Patel ji who is fighting for employment of youth and rights of farmers. Hardik raised the voice of people of his society, sought jobs for them, sought scholarships. He organised a peasant’s movement. The BJP is calling it treason”.
युवाओं के रोजगार और किसानों के हक की लड़ाई लड़ने वाले युवा हार्दिक पटेल जी को भाजपा बार-बार परेशान कर रही है। हार्दिक ने अपने समाज के लोगों की आवाज उठाई, उनके लिए नौकरियां मांगी, छात्रवृत्ति मांगी। किसान आंदोलन किया।
भाजपा इसको "देशद्रोह" बोल रही है।https://t.co/DcmiAvMrAh
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) January 19, 2020
It is beyond comprehension how the Gandhi scion is blaming the BJP when, in fact, the Ahmedabad Court has observed that Hardik Patel who has to be cross-examined in the case, was flouting bail conditions by not appearing before the Court regularly with the intention of delaying the trial.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister, Nitin Patel has also hit out at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her remarks about Hardik Patel’s arrest. He said that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should have a “legal understanding” that the Congress leader, Hardik Patel has been arrested according to a Court’s order. Nitin Patel said, “Priyankaben should have this legal understanding that Hardik’s arrest has been as per the court order.” He added, “The entire process is legal and the state government, police department do not have any role to play.”
Hardik Patel has had a troubled legal history. In fact, last year he couldn’t contest the Lok Sabha polls after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay his conviction in the 2015 Mehsana riots case. He was earlier convicted by a Visnagar court a couple of days later on July 25, 2018, and sentenced to a two-year jail term, making him ineligible to contest elections. Thus, in the context of his past track record and troubled history, the present arrest comes as a strong setback to Hardik Patel and also the Congress in Gujarat.