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OBC leader Alpesh Thakor on why he believes he’ll play the kingmaker in the Gujarat 2017 polls

Until the Patidar reservation stir in Gujarat in 2015, Alpesh Thakor was not a well-known face. When Hardik Patel was staging a violent protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thakor surfaced as a voice against the Patidar demand for reservation. Since then, the 40-year-old leader and also the chief of Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena (GKTS) has been expanding his social and political base in the coastal state.

He claims to have a strong organisation in 138 of the 182 seats of the Gujarat Assembly. Thakor told Newslaundry, “We have already formed booth-level committees in 80 constituencies.” A decade ago, Thakor had begun as a social activist, carrying out anti-liquor drives within the Thakor community, which comes under the Other Backward Classes (OBC). In 2017, he is toying with expanding his power to influence the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election.

Thakor has his own data to back this confidence. The son of Congress leader Khodabhai Thakor, Thakor had formed the social organisation GKTS to focus on serving the needs of his community. The GKTS presently has its reach in over 9,000 villages. In January 2016, Thakor began his experiments to bring together OBC, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under his new outfit, the OSS Ekta Manch. Thakor claimed he has over 35-40 lakh members between his two organisations. “Together we will have an influence on over 78 per cent of the vote-bank in Gujarat,” he claimed.

The Gujarat Assembly polls, expected to be held in December, might see unprecedented developments. Three young Turks – from different social and economic backgrounds – Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, Patel and Thakor could have a significant impact. However, it is important to note that unlike Mevani and Patel, Thakor is not critical of the BJP and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In fact, he has no qualms in admitting that he might ally himself with either the Congress or the BJP – if any of these parties accept his demands. This is contingent on if either party gives a certain number of tickets to the communities he represents.

“We will prepare a list of 10 issues – including unemployment, agrarian crisis – in our mahasammelan. We expect the Congress and the BJP to address these issues…” He said, “Of 182 seats, on 80-90 seats those from poor and backward classes should be given tickets.” He confidently said that his front will take the final call in the next 60 days.

While it is believed that Thakor’s outfits are limited to a few districts of Central and North Gujarat, the OBC leader disagreed. The GKTS and OSS Ekta Manch chief claimed he enjoys similar support in the South as well as Saurashtra region of the state. “When we took out the 500-km Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Saurashtra region, people realised are that our organisation is equally strong in this region … On the way to Somnath, even at midnight, our rally was welcomed by a crowd of 3000 people.”

Thakor’s support can also be attributed to his successful anti-liquor drives across Gujarat. “Pure bharat mein sabse jyada agar sharab agar kahin bhi pi jaati hai to wo Gujarat hai – jahan sharab ki pabandi hai (Among the states, Gujarat consumes the most liquor, even though it is a prohibition state).” He said an entire eco-system has sprung up to support the illegal liquor industry in the state. “Apko bata doon 200 se jyada crore ka hafta hai government ko numaindon ko, afsaron ko, rajnetaon ko. Har saal 40-50 hazaar crore ki sharab Gujarat mein pi jaati hai (A regular bribe of Rs 200 crore is paid to government officials and politicians to run this business. Every year, liquor worth Rs 40,000-50,000 crore is consumed in Gujarat.)” Thakor dismissed the claims of the BJP government in the state that Gujarat is a liquor-free state, as “utter lies”.

Alpesh Thakor addressing a public meeting.

He claims that under the pressure from GKTS, the state government had amended the anti-liquor laws in the state. Interestingly, Thakor is accused of exploiting the success of GKTS in the social sector to further his political ambitions. However, he has also made several abrupt decisions against the administration and the state government. For instance, during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017, Thakor had called off a programme to disrupt the VGGS – without consulting other organisations which had jointly called for the action. Since then leaders such as Mevani are wary of his intentions.

Thakor claimed to be fighting for a varied range of issues – which at times appear to be at odds with each other or aren’t ideologically sound. He attacks both the BJP and the Congress for what he calls a dismal state of affairs – the rising unemployment and atrocities against Dalits. At the same time, he is also ready to ally with any of these parties electorally – with a rider that they will have to change their conduct and must work for the poor and backward class.

Listen to Thakor speaking about Gujarat politics, his intention to build a Ram temple in Gujarat, cow slaughter, and his ambitions of becoming a kingmaker in 2017 and much more.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @tweets_amit.