JOIN USTwo major takeaways from Amit Shah’s J&K visit
Two developments stand out after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir concluded on Wednesday. One was the promise of granting a Schedule Tribe (ST) status to the Pahari community, and the other was holding the much-awaited assembly elections once the final voter list and “other preparations” are completed, even though no specific time was announced.
Shah had announced on Tuesday that Paharis from the newly formed union territory will soon get reservation in education and jobs as ST—a pre-election promise aimed at widening the saffron party’s support base in Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.
If implemented, this quota will be the first instance of a linguistic group earning reservation in the country. However, to do that, the Union government will have to amend the Reservations Act in the Parliament.
The estimated population of Paharis in the union territory is around 6 lakh, of which 55 per cent are Hindus and the rest Muslim. But the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities, who have 10 per cent ST quota already, have been resenting tribal status to Paharis, saying that people from ‘privileged’ classes should not get quota on the basis of language alone.
Last month, the BJP nominated Gulam Ali Khatana, a Gujjar leader to the Rajya Sabha, in a move that underscored the party’s attempt to reach out to the Gujjar and Bakarwal community. In his address, too, Home Minister Shah assured that the reservation benefits of the two communities will not get diluted even after the inclusion of Paharis into the ST category.
Before making the announcement in Rajouri, the home minister met delegates from the three communities on his arrival in Jammu to ensure that there was no resentment against the Bharatiya Janata Party from any community which may prove costly for it during the Assembly polls.
The home minister, however, was ambiguous about the Assembly elections in the erstwhile state. Shah didn’t provide any specific time frame, but phrased reasons as “finalisation of voters list” and “other preparations” to decide on the election.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under central rule since June 19, 2018, following the collapse of the coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti, after the BJP pulled out. Following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the Centre formed a delimitation commission in March 2020 to redraw Assembly and parliament seats in the union territory.
For two years, the Union government, led by the BJP, put completion of delimitation exercise as a prerequisite to hold the elections. The commission filed its final report in May this year—but the BJP presented “revision of electoral rolls”, which will be finalized by November 25, as another reason to delay the election.
Now, Shah’s announcement of “other preparations” could further delay the Assembly elections.