By Sourav Roy BarmanMehsana (Gujarat), Dec 8 (PTI) Mehsana, the hub of thePatidar agitation, is a sometimes bumpy 35-km bus ride fromVadnagar, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A group of chatty youngsters hop on to a creakyVadnagar-bound bus of the Gujarat State Transport Corporation,which lumbers off the unpaved Mehsana terminus, leaving atrail of dust.
The conductor struggles to make himself heard in theraucous group, mostly BSc students in a local college votingfor the first time on December 14, phase two of the Gujaratpolls.
Mehsana and Vadnagar fall in Mehsana district. However,Vadnagar falls in the Unjha constituency while Mehsana city isa separate constituency.
But politics is not uppermost in their minds. Thefirst-time voters, who form a crucial voting block of 12 lakh,seem to be just waking up to political consciousness --somewhat like the faint fuzz on their upper lip.
Ashish Patel and Jashavant Sinh are best friends. Butadulthood has made them discover that their political viewsare poles apart, one pushing for reservation for the Patelcommunity and the other veering towards the BJP.
Ashish, a Kadva Patel (a subcaste of the Patidars orPatels), is an ardent supporter of Hardik Patel, the firebrandleader of the Patidar Amanat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), which hasbeen fighting for reservation and has come out in support ofthe Congress.
The 21-year-old is the son of a land-owning farmer inVisnagar, a major pitstop between Mehsana and Vadnagar.
"Patels are not necessarily wealthy. None of us hasgovernment jobs. The land we own is not enough to feed ourentire family. That is why we need reservations," says Ashish,justifying his support for Hardik Patel.
According to him, a false perception that Patels aredominant in all spheres of society has gained traction,leaving the economically backward among them in the lurch.
Patels form around 12 per cent of the electorate andamong them Kadvas, to which Hardik and Ashish belong, arefewer in number. They can potentially influence the outcome ofaround 60 seats out of the 182 in the state, say analysts.
The Leuvas are numerically more dominant and arerepresented by leaders like former chief minister AnandibenPatel of the BJP.
However, Jashavant is not impressed with Ashish'sargument and is convinced that the BJP will make aresounding comeback for a fifth term.
His father, a state government employee, told him so,says Jashavant, who hails from Sabarkantha in north Gujarat.
"State government employees get a sense of theelectorate's mood better than anyone else," he says. "And whyshould the BJP not win? Modi has brought in development, he isone of us," he adds, pointing to Modi's local roots.
Though their political views are still in the formativestage, the youngsters are acutely caste conscious.
Vikram Choudhary, Dhaval Choudhary, Vikas Choudhary andNikhil Desai, all travelling to Vadnagar, say they are OBCs.
"Vadnagar is all about Modiji, who is himself an OBC. Noother party will register any presence. There's developmentall around us," Vikas says, while others helpfully point to anupcoming medical college in the area.
They all hope to pursue higher education degrees and landgovernment jobs.
OBC leader Alpesh Thakore, on whom the Congress isbanking for a chunk of OBC votes, finds resonance but whetheror not that will translate into votes is still to be seen.
"We have heard he has worked a lot for the community andwould have voted for him only if he had been with the BJP,"says Nikhil.
According to observers, there are no signs of a possibleconsolidation of OBC votes, around 40 per cent of theelectorate in the state, which has 146 listed OBC castes.
For the debutants, what matters is development and jobs.
Issues like the 2002 riots matter little to these youngsters,mostly in their early 20s who were probably just beginningschool at the time.
When the topic is brought up, they don't show muchinterest, many saying they are aware that something hadhappened but have no "deep" understanding.
Hitesh Solanki is the quiet occupant of a corner seat. Heis also pursuing BSc, but from another college in Visnagar.
Unlike others, Solanki, a Scheduled Caste, opens up onlyafter much persuasion.
His family does not own any land, nor is anyone in hisfamily a government servant.
"My family has been traditional Congress supporters. I amnot much into politics but why not give Rahul Gandhi anopportunity? He appears to be a sincere person," says this sonof a landless farmer.
Solanki says he has not heard of Jignesh Mevani, theDalit leader who is contesting as an Independent with Congresssupport from Vadagam in north Gujarat.
Mevani shot to fame when he organised a series ofprotests against atrocities against Dalits.
As the bus reaches Vadnagar, the youngsters rush out. "Dowrite that we all studied in the same school where Modijistudied. It's right across the railway station where he soldtea as a child," one of them shouts out.
The first phase of the Gujarat election is tomorrow andthe second phase on December 14. The results will be announcedon December 18. PTI SBRMIN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.