Five years later, Young Turks divided between BJP, Congress

In the run up to the 2017 assembly election, three young firebrand leaders shot into the limelight in Gujarat’s political arena: Alpesh Thakor, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani. Interestingly, all three shot to fame through agitations in their respective communities, namely the OBC Thakors, the Patidars and the Dalits.

Alpesh rallied the Thakor community around him by forming the Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena and took on the government over the sensitive issue of liquor prohibition. Hardik Patel became convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, which spearheaded the community’s agitation for reservation. Jignesh Mevani championed the cause of Dalits by holding numerous protests in the aftermath of the Una Dalit flogging incident of 2016.

In the process, the three earned for themselves the title "The Three Young Turks". And yes, they did inflict electoral damage to the BJP in the 2017 election.

Now, five years down the line, as the state faces another assembly election in December 2022, Hardik Patel is working president of the state unit of the Congress party and Jignesh Mevani — who won the 2017 election as an independent — is expected to formally join the Congress just ahead of the assembly election. Of the three, only Alpesh Thakor appears to have been pushed to the periphery of the political arena.

And not without reason. He won his maiden assembly election from Radhanpur constituency in north Gujarat on a Congress ticket. Ahead of the 2019 LS election, Thakor quit the Congress and subsequently joined the BJP. When he contested the Radhanpur assembly seat byelection on a BJP ticket, he was rejected by the electorate and faced defeat. Since then, Thakor has slipped further away from the political spotlight.

Having an OBC Thakor leader as GPCC president, the Congress will look to strengthen its base among Patidars and Dalits by putting to use the charisma of Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani. Only time will tell how much magic the duo can still work.