Kash Patel, a small village of the prosperous Patels, or Patidars, landowning community in Bhadran tehsil of central Gujarat’s Anand district, is delighted to have been nominated as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Current FBI Director Christopher Wray has said in his latest comments that Donald Trump will leave office with United States President Joe Biden when he takes office in January.
Kash’s appointment as FBI director was one of several major announcements Trump made shortly after winning the presidential election.
Meanwhile, residents of Mahadev Phalia, Moti Khadki area of Bhadran village in Anand district, recall Kas’s grandfather Rameshbhai Patel’s family moving to Uganda in the 1940s.
Kash’s father Pramod was one of eight brothers with three sisters. As village elders recall that the family sold their property in Mahadev Palia decades ago and never returned, the names of the youngest members of the family have been carefully recorded and added to the Vanshavalli (family tree) book. The ‘Chhagam Patidar community’ (Patels of six village groups) to which he belongs.
The announcement of Cass’s FBI appointment has also caused a stir in Uganda’s Gujarati community.
Kampala Patidar community president Sunil Patel told The Indian Express, “Ever since Kash Patel’s nomination as FBI director was announced, we have been discussing with the community their connection to Uganda… community members, who had migrated. At the same time and remembered his grandfather but the family did not visit Uganda after the 1970 expulsion. We know that Kas’s father, Pramod, worked for Kakira Sugar, the flagship sugar company of the Madhwani Group in Uganda. After that he also worked as the financial controller of Madhwani Group.
The expulsions of the 1970s, which Sunil Patel noted, were followed by a military coup in 1971 by then Ugandan President Idi Amin. The following year on August 4, he gave the Asian community 90 days to leave the country.
Sunil Patel added that while newspapers and media in Uganda are calling Kash Patel “a son of Uganda”, the Patidar community is waiting for him to “arrive and celebrate” to take over.
Another man, who said he knew the family from their time in Uganda, now lives in the US. Kas’s father, Pramod, had decided to leave Uganda during Idi Amin’s reign because he had joined the Madhwani group, founded by Mooljibhai Madhwani, a Gujarati who had migrated from Saurashtra. Madhwani group is said to have been targeted by the rebels.
“The Madhwani Group was one of the largest conglomerates in Uganda and Pramod Patel, at that time, held an important position in the company as the financial controller. As the rebels would not part with the Madhwani Group and its assets, including their sugarcane fields, Pramod Patel and his entire family also chose to escape the brutal regime. were…,” said the acquaintance.
Bhadran Chhagam is one of the six villages that make up the Patidar community also known as Dhanasobhak (also known as Dharmaj, Nadiad, Sojitra, Bhadran, Vaso and Karamsad).
Kash Patel’s name is mentioned by the genealogy record keepers of Bhadran village as the son of Pramod Rameshbhai Patel.
Rajesh Patel, secretary of Bharat Patidar Samaj, the apex body of Chhagam Patidar community in Gujarat, who is also the district president of BJP’s Anand unit, told The Indian Express, “Being Kash Patel is a matter of pride. Chhagam has been nominated as the head of the FBI from the Patidar community. Our genealogy traces back 18 generations of families from our six Dhansovak villages. We have records of 18 generations of the family of Kash Patel of Mahadev Phalia, Bhadran…”
Local residents of Bhadran village said that they could not meet Kash Patel as the family did not come to India, but they are in touch with some distant relatives.
“We have not met Kash Patel but the community is close and everyone can remember the family. Through marriage, some of us are also related to Kash Patel’s uncles and aunts and the extended family regularly visits India… They are in touch with the NRI circle of friends from the Gam Patidar community. Most of Pramod Patel’s (Kash’s father) siblings are now in their late 70s… Not only Kash’s father, but also his mother is from Chagam Patidar community and Vaso. He is a native of the village,” said an unwilling resident.
According to Rajesh Patel, Kash Patel’s family members are mostly based in the US now, but stayed in Vadodara for a while after being expelled from Uganda during the Idi Amin regime in the 1970s.
“Some non-resident Gujarati families returned to India for a stopover before seeking asylum in Canada, UK and the US. Kash’s parents also lived in Vadodara for a while before seeking asylum in Canada and then moved to the US where he was born… After his installation, we We will try to invite him to his native village to experience the legacy of the community.It has produced stalwarts like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhai Kaka and many others. ” said Rajesh Patel.
Kash Patel was born Kashyap Patel in New York. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond before returning to New York to earn his law degree with a certificate in international law from the University College London Faculty of Law in the United Kingdom. “Kash is a lifelong ice hockey player, coach, and fan,” describes his bio on the Department of Defense website.
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