Srinagar: Less than 24 hours before the imposition of the model code of conduct (MCC) for Lok Sabha polls, the administration in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday evening announced amendments to the Union territory’s reservation rules to enhance the quota of politically influential Pahari community and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), apart from the addition of 15 more communities in the latter category.
Opposition parties have alleged that the timing of the move shows that the BJP wants to derive electoral mileage from it in the polls.
Reservation for Paharis
The UT’s administrative council headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha cleared a proposal to grant 10% reservation to Pahari ethnic tribe, Paddari tribe, Kolis and Gadda Brahmin communities. The quota of these communities was announced two months after the parliament passed a bill to declare them as Scheduled Tribes and just a day before the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for Lok Sabha polls.
After being cleared by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively on February 6 and 9, the President of India gave assent to the bill on February 12.
Among the four communities notified as STs in J&K, the politically significant Pahari community was entitled to 4% reservation from 2019 onwards after the then Governor Satya Pal Malik gave assent to a bill granting them reservation in jobs and admissions in government-run professional institutions.
The grant of ST status to Paharis evoked widespread resentment from Gujjar-Bakerwal communities, who alleged that the move was aimed at diluting their tribal identity.
In a bid to pacify the Gujjar-Bakerwal communities, the Union government and LG-led administration have repeatedly maintained from 20222 that their quota won’t be affected by the grant of reservation to Paharis.
As a balancing act between the two communities, both Paharis and three other communities declared as STs this year and STs notified earlier would now get 10% reservation each, taking reservation of ST category to 20% in J&K
The grant of ST status to Paharis and enhancement of their quota is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party’s ambitious plan to woo the Pahari community, which is in majority in seven out of eight segments of the Pir Panchal region, comprising Muslim-majority Rajouri and Poonch districts. Of these seven segments, six are part of the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat.
The move is likely to benefit the BJP in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha segment, which is the first-ever electoral unit that transcends the geographical boundaries of Kashmir and Jammu region. This seat comprising 18 assembly segments – seven of Jammu and 11 of Kashmir – is partly riddled with caste faultlines and partly witnessed low turnout in elections after 1987 polls which were rigged and believed to be one of the main causes behind armed militancy in J&K.
The carving out of the seat by the delimitation commission was dubbed as a brazen instance of “gerrymandering” and “electoral manipulation”.
New groups and enhancement of OBC quota
The administrative council has also added 15 more communities to the Other Backward Classes, besides enhancing their quota to 8%.
The new classes being added to J&K’s OBC list include Waghey (Chopan), Ghirath/Bhati/Chang community, Jat community, Saini community, Markabans/Ponywalas, Sochi community, Christian Biradari (converted from Hindu Valmiki), Sunar/Swarankar Teeli (Hindu Teeli along with already existing Muslim Teli), Perna/Kouro(Kaurav), Bojru/Decount/Dubdabay Brahmin, Gorkans, Gorkhas, West Pakistani refugees (excluding SCs) and Acharyas.
Apart from recognising new social groups, the government also enhanced the quota of OBCs to 8% from 4%.
Before the amendment in the J&K Reservation Act in December 2023, the OBCs were known as “weak and underprivileged classes (social castes)” in the UT.
The declaration of these communities as OBCs and enhancement of their quota would strengthen the BJP’s grip in Jammu and Udhampur seats, which the party had won consecutively in the 2014 and 2019 LS polls.
Timing shows electoral motives behind the move: Opposition
Talking to The Wire, four-time MLA and senior CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami attributed the BJP’s electoral motives behind the move.
“This is for the election purposes and that is why the announcement has been made a day before the announcement of the elections,” he said.
Chief spokesperson of J&K unit of Congress, Ravinder Sharma said the timing of these amendments shows that the ruling BJP wants to derive electoral mileage from the move.
“They should have announced the quota for Paharis and other communities immediately after the President of India gave assent to the bill granting ST status to them, but they delayed it due to elections,” he said.
