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| Will PDP, NC leaders join BJP to fulfill their promise to Amit Shah? | | Scheduled Tribe status to Paharis | | Early Times Report
Jammu, July 31: As the Union Government has introduced a much-awaited Bill in the Lok Sabha to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Pahari-speaking people, it is high time for two senior leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference to join BJP.
Two prominent leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference have expressed their desire to join the BJP on the condition that the central government grants Scheduled Tribe (ST)status to their Pahari community.
PDP district president Rajouri Tazeem Dar and senior National Conference leader Shafqat Mir had the assurance to Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a meeting at Jammu in October 2022.
The two leaders were part of a Pahari community delegation that called on the Home Minister shortly after his arrival on a three-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir in October last year to review the situation in the Union Territory.
During their interaction with the Home Minister as a delegation of Pahari-speaking people, both the leaders announced that they would join BJP after Union Government grants Scheduled Tribe status to Paharis. As reported earlier, BJP is focussing on prominent Pahari Muslims of Poonch and Rajouri districts to make inroads in these two Muslim majority districts of Jammu province.
Keeping in view the deep ethnic divide among Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Paharies in this mountainous belt, BJP is now focussing on Pahari Muslims to further expand its base in this belt. Already a prominent Pahari face of Rajouri, Mohammad Iqbal Malik has joined the party and won the election as a DDC member on a BJP ticket.
BJP has supported ST status for Paharies - a community that is a dominant force in Poonch, Rajouri districts of Jammu province, and Baramulla and Kupwara districts in Kashmir Valley.
This community has been demanding ST status for decades. There are 9.6 lakh Pahari community people in J&K.
In February, prominent Pahari leader and former minister Mushtaq Bukhari, who was the face of the NC in the Poonch district, left the party over the issue. Although he has not joined the BJP yet, he is in touch with party leaders. |
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