Patels withdraw bank deposits, ban politicians' entry in villages

Ahmedabad Intensifying their quota stir residents of some Patelcommunity dominated villages in Gujarat are withdrawing their bank deposits with one cooperative bank reporting that about Rs 20 lakh was withdrawn in just one dayThe residents also banned the entry of political leaders into their hamlets as part of their protest against alleged police atrocities during the violence in connection with the quota agitation by the Patel communityBanners carrying a stern warning to politicians against entering the villages have been put up by angry local Patel residents who are targeting them for apparently not coming out in support of the community after the violence The Patel leaders demanding reservation under OBC quota had earlier made an appeal to their community members to withdraw their money from banks to give a message to the state government for not acceding to their reservation demandResponding to an appeal made by the Sardar Patel Group SPGan organisation headed by Lalji Patel seeking quota for Patels several locals of Patel community queued up outside the Sabarkantha District Cooperative Bank in Vadrad village of Sabarkantha district yesterday to withdraw their depositsTo support the demand of reservation for our community I have withdrawn Rs 50000 from this bank There are many others from our community who will also withdraw their deposits We will not put the money back into the bank till our demands are not met a local Mahesh Patel saidAccording to the cooperative bank manager K K Patel about Rs 20 lakh was withdrawn in just one day As part of the Patel agitation these people are withdrawing their deposits We cleared several cheques worth Rs 20 lakh till yesterday afternoon This may continue in coming days K K Patel told reporters todayThe Patels are enraged over alleged police atrocities and deaths of at least eight persons of their community during the violence after quota rally in Ahmedabad on August 25 Many Pateldominated villages put up banners warning political leaders irrespective of their party affiliations and workers who did not come out in the support of the community after the violence not to enter the village or hold any meeting to seek votes for the upcoming local body pollsSuch banners have been put in Lodara village of Gandhinagar district Kansa in Mehsana Vaniyad and Khambhisar in Aravalli district of north Gujarat among othersThese banners have a common text which reads Political leader or worker be it of BJP or Congress must not come here to beg for votes They should not hold any meeting or rally here If they do we will not be responsible for anything if they enter our villageThese leaders did not turn up here when we needed them Now if they come for votes we will not be responsible if anything happens to them it saidLodara is considered as a BJP stronghold But none of the BJP leaders came here to extend help Patels are very angry with them as none of the leader said anything about the police atrocities against us Now if they come here for votes we will not be responsible if things get out of control Lodara village resident Suresh Patel warnedMeanwhile Congress MLA from Vijapur in Mehsana Prahlad Patel on Tuesday sat on symbolic oneday hunger strike in his constituency to condemn the alleged police atrocities and pay homage to the martyrs who lost their lives during the quota agitation He had earlier supported the demand for reservation for Patels by writing a letter to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel