Hardik Patel loses 20 kgs as fast enters 11th day

Ahmedabad As doctors expressed concern over the health of Hardik Patel the Gujarat government Tuesday stepped up its efforts to persuade the Patidar leader to end his indefinite hunger strike which entered eleventh day Hardik had launched his fast on August 25 for demands including farm loan waiver and reservation for the Patidar community under OBC category in government jobs and education sectorThe BJPled state government held a meeting with several key leaders of the Patidar community at Gandhinagar Tuesday night hours after doctors expressed concern over the health of Patel who has lost almost 20 kgs of weight in the last eleven days The doctors attached to the Sola civil hospital said Hardik had lost weight and should get admitted to the hospital After meeting Patidar leaders associated with six different bodies of the community Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said the governments priority is to ensure that the Patidar leader calls off his hunger strikeRevenue minister Kaushik Patel and Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja also spoke with Patidar leaders associated with Vishwa Umiya Foundation Umiya Mata Sansthan and Khodaldham Trust among others During the meeting we conveyed that the government is worried about Hardik Patel We appealed to the leaders to persuade Hardik Patel to end his fast The leaders have promised us that they would meet Hardik Patel in this regard the energy minister said after the meetingC K Patel who led the delegation of Patidar leaders told reporters that they would convey the feelings of the government to the 25yearold quota spearhead This is just a first meeting over many issues of Patidars Such meetings will take place in the future too The government showed a positive approach to many of our demands We will meet Hardik to convince him to end his fast he told reportersEarlier in the day Saurabh Patel had claimed that Hardik Patels quota movement was a politicallymotivated agitation with the backing of the Congress Meanwhile more support poured in for Hardik Patel Tuesday as former Union minister Yashwant Sinha along with Bhartiya Janata Party BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha met him at his residence near here and extended their supportAfter the meeting Yashwant Sinha announced that he would take Hardiks agitation particularly with regard to farmers to the national level During my short meeting with Hardik it has been decided that we will take this agitation to the national level and fight strongly Not just Gujarat we will take this movement to every corner of the country Sinha told reporters The issues on which Hardik Patel is holding fast have created an impact across the country The issues are being discussed everywhere he addedWhile the former Union finance minister maintained that he and others were with Hardik in his fight for farmers he also opined that the government should pay attention to the demand of reservation Responding to a query on caste quota Sinha said the Union government should chart out a way forward as people from various communities who were outside the scope of reservation have demanded it The Central government should think about this It has formed a backward class commission It should think on how to take this matter forward As far as possible we should try to work to improve lives of many communities who have lagged behind as per Constitution he saidShatrughan Sinha said their meeting with Hardik was not politically motivated We gathered here in a nonpolitical capacity on the basis of humanity We are here because our aim is to construct the temple of humanity We have no objection on mandirmasjid sic he said He alleged that the BJP governments in Centre and Gujarat were not bothered even as the entire Patidar community was worried about Hardik When farmers loans can be waived in other BJPruled states why it cannot happen in Gujarat Farmers must get justice I appeal to the government to waive farm loans Shatrughan Sinha said adding democracy needs to be strengthened to fight autocracyMeanwhile the state government Tuesday told the Gujarat High Court that it was not trying to suppress or demoralise the agitation of Hardik Patel The government in a written reply said it was only trying to ensure that there was no violence such as witnessed during the Patidar quota agitation three years ago The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti PAAS led by Hardik Patel has moved the high court alleging that police were not letting people enter the bungalow on the outskirts of Ahmedabad where the quota leader is on hunger strike since August 25Hardik had launched his hunger strike on the third anniversary of his mega proquota rally in Ahmedabad He had on Sunday released his will in which he divided his property among his parents sister 14 youths killed during the quota agitation in 2015 and a panjrapole shelter for ill and old cows near his village Apart from the Congress leaders and representatives of the Aam Aadmi Party Trinamool Congress Nationalist Congress Party Rashtriya Janata Dal and Hindustani Awami Morcha HAM have visited Hardik at his residence and extended their supportCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever