Ahmedabad, Gujarat : The Gujarati edition of the book ‘Chunautiya Mujhe Pasand Hai’, written on the life of former Gujarat Chief Minister and current Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, was released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 7th December 2025. But this book has now come into the spotlight due to a separate controversy.

The book ‘Chunautiya Mujhe Pasand Hai’ presents the challenges faced by Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister and UP Governor Anandiben Patel in her life journey. The Gujarati version of this book was released by Amit Shah and at that time Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had also said that this book will always be a book that inspires and empowers women. He had also said that this book should be in every Gujarati’s home and in the hands of every girl. However, this book has now come into the spotlight again after so many months of its release. The reason for this is the Patidar movement. The revelations made in the book about the Patidar movement have created a stir.

According to media reports, on page 172 of the Gujarati version of the book, it is stated that ‘the people of the Patidar community agreed with Anandiben Patel’s words, but despite this, the movement continued. It is clear that some senior leaders of the Congress and BJP were further instigating this movement for personal gain, not caring about how much adverse impact this would have on Gujarat? What should they have to do with Gujarat? They were only looking out for their own selfish interests. In such political conditions, the BJP won all 6 municipal corporations in the local elections. However, it did not get the expected success in the district panchayat elections.’

Which leaders were talked about ?

• The details presented in the book raise the question that during the Patidar movement, which leaders were there from BJP and Congress who worked to instigate this movement for personal gain?
• Which senior leaders were there in particular from BJP? Who hatched a conspiracy to overthrow Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister Anandiben?
• The movement created a huge upheaval in politics at that time and became a difficult climb for the BJP. So much so that in the subsequent assembly elections, the BJP came down to 99 seats.

In this whole matter, Viramgam MLA Hardik Patel says that he has not read this book by Anandiben Patel yet, so he cannot give any personal statement, but no leaders were directly associated with the movement. Activists may have been involved.

It should be noted that the Patidar movement was actually started by the Patidar community with the demand for reservation and Hardik Patel, who emerged as the face of this movement, is currently associated with the BJP. Apart from this, many leaders are currently associated with various political parties including the BJP. This movement, which started from Mehsana 11 years ago on July 6, 2015, then spread throughout Gujarat. The Patidar movement was also a challenge in Anandiben Patel’s life, which changed the direction of politics. The impact of the movement reached Anandiben Patel’s Chief Minister’s chair. Due to which he had to resign from the post of Chief Minister in 2016 and later Vijay Rupani became the Chief Minister of the state.

SPG’s Lalji Patel, who started the Patidar movement, said that before the rally that took place at the GMDC ground on the 25th, no one knew Hardik Patel. However, let us also tell you that lakhs of people were present in the historic rally that took place at the GMDC ground in Ahmedabad on 25 August 2015. After the rally, violence and arson took place in many parts of the state. After this rally, Hardik Patel emerged as the face of the Patidar reservation movement and after that, the leadership of the movement came into the hands of Hardik Patel.

This book has been written in Hindi by Ashok Desai, Pankaj Jani and Vinay Joshi. Who have been working with Anandiben Patel for years. The book highlights the challenges that Anandiben faced in life.

Impact of Patidar agitation

• According to official information, 14 people lost their lives in this agitation.
• Many people, including policemen, were injured.
• There was damage worth crores of rupees to public and private property.
• Police cases were filed against thousands of people.
• The impact of the agitation was so strong that Anandiben Patel had to resign.
• In the subsequent 2017 assembly elections, the BJP came down to 99 seats.
• The BJP suffered a major blow in Saurashtra.

Report – Abhijit Tushar Bhatt (Political Editor)