Newsmaker: Importance of being Naresh Patel, with every major Gujarat party wooing him

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An industrialist, Patel is the chairman of the Shree Khodaldham Trust (SKT), which manages the grand temple of Goddess Khodiyar, the patron deity of the Leuva Patidar community, at Kagvad near Rajkot. His clout however stems not just from the Khodaldham temple, but also the philanthropic activities that he undertakes as part of his father’s legacy.

Naresh Patel (Chirag Chotaliya)

Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, Sukhram Rathva, recently said that if Patel joins the Congress, the party would win the coming polls.

Sources say the AAP was on the verge of nominating him as its Rajya Sabha nominee from Punjab. Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil also hoped that he would join the saffron party.

Although Patel, who keeps his cards close to his chest, has admitted that the three leading parties have extended membership invitation to him since December, when he first hinted he was open to joining politics, he has also maintained that his joining any party would depend on the wishes of his community.

Patel is also the managing director of Patel Brassworks (PBW), a Rajkot-headquartered firm founded by his father Ravjibhai Undhad in 1948, which currently manufactures engine components with applications ranging from automobiles to aircraft. In his younger days Patel wanted to join the armed forces but instead joined his family business on his father’s direction.

The youngest of Ravjibhai’s six children, Patel went to Saint Mary’s school and Rajkumar College before completing his BCom from JJ Kundaliya Commerce College, where he met his wife Shalini, who belongs to a Haryana business family. The couple have two daughters, one of whom is a licensed commercial pilot, and son Shivraj, who had campaigned for a Congress candidate in the 2017 Assembly polls.

Setting up the religious trust SKT in 2010 before launching the Khodaldham temple project and then rallying Leuva Patels behind it was not accidental for Patel. His father was instrumental in founding Patel Boarding, a boys hostel, and AP Patel Kanya Chhatralaya, a girls hostel, in Rajkot. “Our father tried to bring the community together for the cause of education and played an active role in founding the two hostels so that children of the poor from rural areas can come to the city for their education,” says Ramesh Patel, Naresh’s eldest brother and the PBW chairman.

When the temple project at Kagvad, a village around 60 km south of Rajkot, got underway, Patel also proposed to establish an agricultural university in the temple complex. In 2013, Sardar Patel Cultural Foundation, another organisation set up by Patel, started providing free coaching in Rajkot to youths aspiring to become government servants. He also formed Khodaldham Samadhan Panch, an alternate dispute resolution forum, and has enrolled thousands of volunteers through the SKT’s students and women wings.

He seems to have built his cult, which was evident when scores of volunteers hit the streets in protest when Patel stepped down as the SKT chairman in April 2018, compelling him to withdraw his resignation.

Patel got several leading industrialists, including Nirma Group chairman Karsan Patel, Suzlon Group chairman Tulsi Tanti, and Zydus-Cadila Group chairman Pankaj Patel, to join the SKT’s board of trustees while also securing support from Surat diamantaires such as Govind Dholakia and Savji Dholakia – all of whom are Leuva Patidars.

Over the years the Khodaldham events have seen a slew of top political leaders in attendance, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister, his successor Anandiben Patel and her succesor Vijay Rupani, as well as top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and NCP leader Praful Patel, among others.

Spearheading the Patidar quota stir across Gujarat during 2015-16 as the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener, Hardik Patel had also made it a point to visit Khodaldham after the court permitted him to return to Gujarat. Patel was among the Patidar leaders who had tried to mediate a truce between the agitators and the then Anandiben-led state government.

Patidars, literally meaning those who own lands, have traditionally been an agrarian community, split in two main sub-caste groups, Leuva Patels and Kadva Patels. Together, they form the single largest organised group of voters in Gujarat. OBCs outnumber them numerically but have failed to emerge as a single voters bloc as they are fragmented along caste-lines. Leuva Patels outnumber their Kadva counterparts, but the latter is perceived to be a better politically-organised community.

The Leuva leader, Keshubhai Patel, had led the community’s drift away from the then ruling Congress in the 1980s and went on to become Gujarat’s first BJP CM when the party won a majority in the 1995 polls. But his then party colleague Shankersinh Vaghela revolted and toppled his government within seven months. In the 1998 polls, Keshubhai again led the party to victory

and returned as the CM, but the BJP removed him in 2001 over his alleged inept handling of the Kutch earthquake relief, picking Modi as his successor.

Congress MLA from Tankara seat, Lalit Kagathara, says, “Naresh Patel claims that he is an apolitical person but when he organises an event, 30 lakh people attend it. One has to remember that the population of Leuva Patels is 1.5 times higher than Kadva Patels and Naresh Patel is the man who commands respect of other communities also. So, whichever party he supports will have an advantage.”

Lalit Vasoya, Congress MLA from Dhoraji, claimed: “Patidar voters influence the outcome of election to 110 Assembly seats in the state. Over the last 10 years, Naresh Patel has emerged as a figurehead and cultivated a personality which commands respect of common people. He has a non-controversial image which can influence voters. Therefore, it is no surprise that every political party is wooing him.”

Addressing a Leuva Patidar community gathering at the inaguration of the Khodaldham temple in 2017, Patel said, “The idea of bringing the Leuva Patel community under one umbrella had crossed my mind around 15 years ago. I used to accompany my father to community events. But elders and leaders at such events used to be haunted by apprehensions of people not turning up. They would say they have distributed 1,000 invites but only 100 people have arrived so far. I have been listening to such accounts since my childhood,” adding, “I shared my idea (of organising Leuva Patels) with friends, elders and intellectuals of our community and they all agreed that any community can come together only under the flag of religion.”

Ramesh says Naresh’s “business acumen” also helped PBW to achieve remarkable growth by exploring the overseas market from 1990s onward. In 2014, PBW formed Federal Mugal PBW Bearings Pvt Limited (FM-PBW), a joint venture with Federal Mogul Powertrain, a Detroit-headquartered manufacturer of motor-engine components. The company currently markets its products in around 30 countries.

“Naresh looks after finance and marketing while Mahesh, immediately younger to me, looks after production. It is thanks to these efforts that we have been able to increase our annual turnover to around Rs 90 crore,” says Ramesh. While Ramesh is the chairman and Mahesh vice-chairman of FM-PBW, Naresh serves as the MD, with their sons, including Shivraj, being the company’s directors.

Patel’s stature has grown further after the Patidar quota stir fizzled out in 2018 that led to Hardik joining the Congress in 2019. His stock has continued to rise even after the BJP installed Bhupendra Patel, a Kadva Patel, as the Gujarat CM in September last year.

Senior Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki and BJP chief Paatil are among the leaders who have recently met Patel. Early this month, Hardik, who is curently state Congress working president, wrote an open letter to Patel, urging him to join active politics.

Meanwhile, ex-CM Vijay Rupani and BJP vice-president Bharat Boghra have described Patel as “BJP’s well-wisher”. Former minister Dilip Sanghani has however cautioned him against doing politics from the Khodaldham platform lest he meet the “same fate as Hardik’s”.

At the inauguration of a Patidar educational institute in Jasdan town of Rajkot district last November, Patel had stressed that Patidars “should occupy positions from clerk to collector… village sarpanch to Member of Parliament,” adding “Today, our sons and daughters have secured good jobs. But if they are not given proper posting, they would not be able to work for the community. Therefore, there is a need for strong politics.”

Since its inception, Khodaldham has been a platform for religious and social activities coupled with politics, as evidenced by top politicians presiding over its major functions.

It was at the Khodaldham groundbreaking event in 2012 that late Keshubhai had raked up the “injustice to Patidars” issue. He later floated his Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). Patel however maintained his distance from the political players then. The GPP, perceived as a political vehicle of the Patidar community, failed to present any credible challenge to the Modi-led BJP dispensation in the 2012 polls, as it managed to win only 2 seats. A year later, Patel got the then CM Modi to inaugurate an agricultural exhibition in the Khodaldham premises ahead of the 2014 general elections.