Shwetang Patel funeral peaceful amid tight security

GANDHINAGAR: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi took note of recent violence in his periodical radio talk, Mann Ki Baat, on Sunday, 32-year-old Shwetang Patel was cremated in Bapunagar area amid heavy security arrangements.

In an unprecedented development, Gujarat HC worked till late on Saturday, a holiday for Raksha Bandhan, and empowered a state panel to take a call on whether or not to impose curfew in the area to ensure peace during the funeral.

However, while Army was withdrawn from the area, the funeral passed off peacefully amid heavy presence of paramilitary forces.

Mobile internet services, however, remained suspended in the state even on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in his periodic address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that”the events of Gujarat have anguished the nation.” “People will feel shocked if this happens in the land o f Gandhi and Sardar Patel,” he added.

Meanwhile, the public opinion regarding the on going agitation is appearing less than strident in the rural or semi-urban areas. “The demand for reservation is fine, but the way suddenly everything flared up and violence happened is not good,” said Dharmesh Patel, a small-time grocer at Kudasan village near Gandhinagar. “It leads to loss of business and hurts the poor farmers,” he added.

Rajubhai Patel, a transporter based out of Ahmedabad,too, echoed similar sentiments. “There is a definite political angle to this entire upsurge. Otherwise what would justify such a sudden upsurge?” he said. “It is a fact that there are some feeling of discontent brewing within the community for some time, but the way this has come up is not very good,” he added.