Hectic behind-the-scene efforts are on to ensure that the Patel reservation agitation does not cast a shadow on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States. Alarm bells in Delhi and Ahmedabad started ringing when a group calling itself the Overseas Patidar Action Committee (OPAC), and expressing sympathy with the Hardik Patel-led agitation in Gujarat, threatened to stage protests at the venues Mr. Modi was scheduled to visit.
Apart from his engagements in New York, Mr. Modi is also scheduled to address the Indian community in San Jose, California on September 27.
According to sources, a senior official from Gujarat posted in Delhi was tasked with the fire-fighting.
“Apart from the groups already in the U.S., several people went from Gujarat to speak to the Patel community in the U.S. to dissuade them from protests.
“The back-channel conciliation is being coordinated from Delhi,” said a source close to the developments.
Several Indian-American community groups since have given statements in favor of the Prime Minister’s visit.
Bharat Barai, founder of the Indian American Community Foundation (IACF) in the U.S. spoke to The Hindu confirming that there “had been serious apprehensions of protests” but said that “even if there is any protest now, it won’t have more than a 100 people at the most.”
He added that not just people from India, but Indian Americans have been working hard to defuse the crisis. “Even if there is a protest, it will be a feeble one,” he said.
Mr. Barai, who was the man behind the Prime Minister’s Madison Square Garden event last year, said the details of Mr. Modi’s community reception were worked out at an IACF meeting on September 5.
“In that meeting, Mr. Tejas Bakhia [leader of the OPAC] demanded that some of the money that had been collected for the Madison Square Garden event should be handed over to the families of those who died in the police firing during the agitation,” he said. Nine people died in Ahmedabad in August following firing by the police on protesters.
Mr. Barai also said that people supportive of the Prime Minister had said that they were willing to contribute privately to help the families of the victims of police action, but wanted the PM’s visit to be kept separate from domestic politics. The outcome of that meeting was a stalemate.
“I know most of the Indian community in Jersey have been holding meetings with them to ensure everything goes smoothly,” he said.
A meeting at Albert Palace in Jersey was also called to mobilize support for the PM’s visit. The event in San Jose is already sold out.

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