Four lakhs participants in the Kranti rally – Government sources claim

Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad

Amid the claims and counter-claims about the number of participants in the much hyped pro-reservation Kranti mega rally of the Patidar Anamant Aandolan Samiti (PAAS), the highly placed government sources has put it at around four lakhs much less than the earlier claims of the organisers of over 25 lakhs who have themselves admitted that it was less than the estimated figure and was around 18 lakhs as per their estimates.

A senior minister and some top police officials told UNI that the crowd was around four lakhs only.

However, the PAAS convener Hardik Patel had put the figure to 18 lakhs during his address at a meeting at the GMDC ground before start of the rally. He had claimed that IB figures put it to around seven to eight lakhs.

But most of the people apart from the activists put it to a much less number.

‘In fact in the morning as early as around eight am the GMDC ground with a capacity of around 3 lakhs was almost full. But the turnout was not as expected. Rather it was much less. It can at most be between four to five lakhs,’ a cameraman covering the meeting and the rally said.

Earlier, a senior minister and an official from the anti terror squad also put the estimated number of participants to around four lakhs.

The whole city was turned in to a security camp of sorts with over 18000 personnel including 20 SP rank officials deployed for the hyped event.

– DeshGujarat