NRIs from super village decide BJP candidate
Rumour has it that BJP candidate Rajesh Patel, who got the ticket instead of state tourism minister C D Patel, was fielded at the insistence of the NRI lobby.
By Aarthi Ramachandran, TNN |
ANAND: Dharmaj village in Ptelad looks like just another well-to-do pocket in the lush countryside of Anand until one bothers to read the names written on the walls of the modern and ancient buildings a little more closely.
Equipped with several primary and secondary schools, an ITI, a number of public libraries, a cancer and TB hospital, a maternity home, an old age home and a swimming pool, Dharmaj is no ordinary village.
Described as one of India’s richest villages back in the 1980s, it now has branches of eight nationalised and private banks, each with a deposit of Rs 30 crore at least. This is NRI Patel country at its very best. Of the 60,000 native Patels, who belong to two old families that have been living here for the last 350 years, 50,000 are fanned all over the world. They, however, continue to contribute to the village with the Dharmaj Educational Trust, looking after all the development work.
Interestingly, the Congress and the BJP candidates contesting from the Petlad constituency belong to Dharmaj. Rumour has it that BJP candidate Rajesh Patel, who got the ticket instead of state tourism minister C D Patel, was fielded at the insistence of the NRI lobby.
The development work in Dharmaj has other parallels in this ‘Charotar’ belt as well. The more well-off villagers of Vasad in Anand, which is famous for its dal industry, locals says, have paid their electricity bills to the state electricity company for all those living in the area for months in advance.
In Khamana, villagers have put up a mineral water plant that provides water not only for drinking purpose but for all household purposes as well. “Open the tap and you will get mineral water 24-hours a day,” says a resident of Anand.
These villages don’t depend on the government for their “development” work and have a reputation for running their own villages. All this concentrated development in certain parts of Anand has naturally led to the rest of the villages, even towns, feeling that these Patel villages “dominate” the economy and politics.
Dharmaj is not very popular outside its boundaries, but with development on a scale that is difficult to match it cannot be ignored either.
Equipped with several primary and secondary schools, an ITI, a number of public libraries, a cancer and TB hospital, a maternity home, an old age home and a swimming pool, Dharmaj is no ordinary village.
Described as one of India’s richest villages back in the 1980s, it now has branches of eight nationalised and private banks, each with a deposit of Rs 30 crore at least. This is NRI Patel country at its very best. Of the 60,000 native Patels, who belong to two old families that have been living here for the last 350 years, 50,000 are fanned all over the world. They, however, continue to contribute to the village with the Dharmaj Educational Trust, looking after all the development work.
Interestingly, the Congress and the BJP candidates contesting from the Petlad constituency belong to Dharmaj. Rumour has it that BJP candidate Rajesh Patel, who got the ticket instead of state tourism minister C D Patel, was fielded at the insistence of the NRI lobby.
The development work in Dharmaj has other parallels in this ‘Charotar’ belt as well. The more well-off villagers of Vasad in Anand, which is famous for its dal industry, locals says, have paid their electricity bills to the state electricity company for all those living in the area for months in advance.
In Khamana, villagers have put up a mineral water plant that provides water not only for drinking purpose but for all household purposes as well. “Open the tap and you will get mineral water 24-hours a day,” says a resident of Anand.
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These villages don’t depend on the government for their “development” work and have a reputation for running their own villages. All this concentrated development in certain parts of Anand has naturally led to the rest of the villages, even towns, feeling that these Patel villages “dominate” the economy and politics.
Dharmaj is not very popular outside its boundaries, but with development on a scale that is difficult to match it cannot be ignored either.
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