Vadodara: An influential Patidar industrialist, a social worker, doting father and currently one of the most sought-after Gujaratis — Naresh Patel has been making headlines in the poll-bound state.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor was said to be pushing his name for the Congress’ chief ministerial face in Gujarat. And while Kishor might have decided against joining the Congress, the Opposition party is still believed to be keen on inducting the Patidar leader.
The BJP, which has long ruled Gujarat, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is trying to gain a foothold in the state, are also said to be interested in having him on their side.
So, what makes the 57-year-old soft-spoken Naresh Patel — a Leuva Patel (one of the two sub-castes of the Patidar community, the other being Kadva Patel) — so much in demand?
The Rajkot-based industrialist is said to wield enormous influence over not just the Leuva Patels but the overall Patidar community — a vote-bank that political parties in Gujarat can only ignore at their peril.
The Patidars or Patels are an influential community in the state — numerically, politically and economically. They constitute approximately 1.5 crore of Gujarat’s total population of 6 crore and are said to influence votes in close to 65-70 of the 182 assembly seats.
Naresh Patel runs Patel Brass Works, which was started by his father R.C. Patel in 1948, and which has an annual turnover of approximately Rs 100 crore. It manufactures and outsources critical engineering components for a variety of equipment.
But it’s not just his thriving business that has made Patel so sought-after. His real influence among the Patidar community comes from his other role. He is the chairman of Shree Khodaldham Temple Trust, a religious organisation of the Leuva Patel community, which has among its trustees some of the richest industrialists of Gujarat.
Way back in 2012, the temple trust raised money to build the huge temple of Khodial Ma, the goddess that the Leuva Patel community worships, at Kagvad village in Rajkot.
“Naresh bhai wanted to bring the Patel community, comprising mainly the Leuva and Kadva Patels, together. It was with this idea that the Khodaldham Trust got the temple constructed, with generous donations from the community,” Chintan Pedhadiya, editor of the in-house trust magazine, Shree Khodaldham Smruti, told ThePrint.
Leuva and Kadva Patels are different from each other, have their own customs and respective deities. But they mostly vote as one community, prominent Patidar leaders told ThePrint.
“Earlier, there were differences between the Leuvas and Kadvas. But now there is unity between the two communities,” said Rajesh Tilara, a Leuva Patel and trustee of the Khodaldham Trust.
It is because of this reason that political parties — some overtly, others through backroom channels — are said to be wooing Naresh Patel.
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The draw of Khodial Ma temple
Constructed at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the temple of Khodial Ma was thrown open to the public on 21 January 2017.
Hasmukhbhai Lunagariya, spokesman of the Khodaldham Trust, said functions at the temple draw huge crowds from the Patidar community. “The crowd runs into lakhs and comprises both Leuva and Kadva Patels” he said.
Among the Patidars, it is said that Leuva and Kadva Patels comprise approximately 80 per cent of the community. The others, including Koli and Anjana castes, comprise the remaining Patel sub-castes and also enjoy OBC status.
Gujarat has seen many Patidar chief ministers (especially Leuva Patels) including Chimanbhai Patel, Keshubhai Patel, Babubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel. The incumbent CM Bhupendra Patel is a Kadva Patel.
Over the years, politicians from across the state as well as the Centre, including PM Narendra Modi (former Gujarat CM), Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and former CMs Anandiben Patel and Keshubhai Patel, have visited the Khodial Ma temple, to attend its functions.
In September 2017, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the Khodaldham Temple in Rajkot.
While Patidars were originally agriculturists, with the passage of time, they have also dominated business and industry in Gujarat.
On Friday, Modi inaugurated the Global Patidar Business Summit being held in Surat through video-conferencing.
‘Doting father and philanthropist’
Naresh Patel runs Patel Brass Works company with his two brothers, Ramesh and Mahesh, and son Shivraj Nareshkumar Patel.
Speaking to ThePrint from Rajkot, Shivraj said his father had been a disciplinarian with his three children — one son and two daughters. Both his daughters are married and settled in Rajkot and Vadodara.
“My father is a man of few words but, with us, he has always emphasised two things — time management and discipline,” he said.
Patel junior added that his father’s philanthropy is what he admires most about him. “He got inspired by my grandfather and started social work very early on. I was a kid when he started organising a blood donation camp on his birthday, which was given to government hospitals,” he said.
Be it relief work during floods in the state’s Sabarkantha district in 2017 or the 2005 Chennai floods, organising health camps for the people of Rajkot through his Sadjyota Charitable Trust, to distributing rations during the first Covid wave to daily-wagers in Gujarat — Shivraj said his father has “always led from the front when it comes to social work”.
“He collected Rs 26 lakh and donated to the PM’s Relief Fund after the devastating Chennai floods. He met then PM Manmohan Singh and handed him the cheque,” Shivraj added.
Asked about his father’s political ambitions, Patel junior said: “Any son would like his father to grow. To that extent, I will support whatever decision he takes. But personally, I don’t like politics. People can bring you down and, as his son, I don’t want his reputation to be damaged.”
Shivraj, however, recounts that his father first got to test his leadership skills some 25 years ago when he contested and won the election for the post of Rajkot Engineering Association president.
Patel’s political ambitions
Speaking to the media earlier this week, Naresh Patel claimed that though the older generation is against him joining politics, “youth and women want him to take the route”.
“I will make an announcement soon about joining politics,” he added, when asked about his plans.
His political ambitions have created a flutter among the Leuva Patels, and the trustees of Khodaldham Trust, some of whom think “he should not join politics”.
Lunagariya said the trust is conducting a survey in the state to find out what the people want.
“An 11-member team of the trust is going across cities and villages asking people if they want Nareshbhai to join politics. The survey is still on. Final results will come around 15 May, after which the core committee of the trust will decide if Nareshbhai should enter politics,” he said.
He added that the preliminary survey report has shown that the young generation wants Patel to take the political plunge.
Some of the trustees, however, are not convinced about the move. “The rules mandate that if a trustee joins politics, he will have to resign from the trust,” Tilara said.
Leuva Patel leaders are divided as well.
BJP leader Dileep Sanghani, who was also a former cabinet minister in the Gujarat government and is a Leuva Patel, said Naresh Patel enjoys a lot of respect among the Patidar community, but what party he joins finally is his “personal choice”.
“As a Leuva Patel and as chairman of the Khodaldham trust, I have lot of respect for him,” Sanghani said.
He added that as long as Naresh Patel heads the Khodaldham Trust, he would enjoy the support of the Patidars. “But if he leaves the trust, he will not enjoy that kind of influence. The Patidar community wants to work at the national level and for national interest,” he said.
Asked about speculation that Naresh Patel can join the Congress, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor, a non Patidar, told ThePrint: “Any person who is good and joins Congress will ultimately benefit the party.”
This report has been updated to reflect Rahul Gandhi’s 2017 visit to Khodaldham Temple in Rajkot.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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