 Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 12: By nominating Engineer Ghulam Ali Khatana to the Upper House of the Parliament, the BJP has played a masterstroke to woo Gujjars and Bakerwals before assembly polls.
On the one hand, BJP has promised to grant Scheduled Tribe (STs) status to Pahari-speaking people while on the other hand party has played another calculated move by nominating a Gujjar to the Rajya Sabha.
This move of the BJP has evoked a positive reaction among the nomadic population because, after Choudhary Mohmmad Aslam, Engineer Khatana is the second Gujjar leader from J&K who will represent J&K in the Rajya Sabha. Secondly, BJP has given another message to the Gujjars and Bakerwals party that would give them equal opportunity.
After granting political reservations to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) BJP has taken this step to further strengthen its base among Gujjars and Bakerwals.
The Delimitation Commission in its report has reserved nine seats in the Legislative Assembly for Scheduled Tribes and seven for Scheduled Castes.
While Scheduled Castes are already getting political reservations, the STs will get nine reserved seats for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. In the coming assembly polls, nine seats would be reserved for STs in J&K.
Unlike other parts of the country, there was no political reservation to the STs in the legislative assembly or Lok Sabha seats of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Political reservation to STs would be granted after the abrogation of Article 370.
Although all political parties claimed to minimize the woes of the ST communities, the political reservation was not granted to these communities before the abrogation of Article 370.
J&K is the only state in northwest India having a share of nearly 15 percent population of STs. As per the 2011 census, the total population of STs in J&K counted 14.9 lakh among them 13.2 lakh are Muslim, 1 lakh are Buddhist and about 67,000 Hindu.
After decades-long struggle tribes of the erstwhile state of J&K were granted ST status in the year 1991 when the state was under the Governor's rule. In J&K, four communities, namely Gujjar, Bakarwal, Gaddi, and Sippi were notified as the Scheduled Tribes vide the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 1991.
Since 1991, STs were agitating to get a political reservation in J&K like in other parts of the country. It was only after the abrogation of Article 370, that their demand was fulfilled. |
