A CLOUD OF suspicion hovers in Jammu and Kashmir, and it emerged from the stormy monsoon session of Parliament.
On July 26, the Union government introduced four bills in Parliament that would restructure reservation and representation in the Union territory. These bills―the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (amendment) Bill; the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (amendment) Bill; the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (amendment) Bill; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (amendment) Bill―are critical and contentious, having raised apprehension among certain groups.
Take, for instance, the ST amendment bill. Tribals in Jammu and Kashmir have taken to the streets in protest, as it proposes to include Paharis (a linguistic group), Gadda Brahmins, Kolis and Paddaris in the ST category. They fear the inclusion of Paharis, some of them upper caste Hindus and Muslims, will impact their 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and admissions in professional colleges. They argue that the move is aimed at dividing the Muslim, tribal and Pahari votes in the Muslim-majority Pir Panjal region of Jammu.
Observers say that the ST status to Paharis will boost the BJP’s chances in the assembly elections in Pir Panjal, as it has five of the nine seats reserved for the scheduled tribes―three in Rajouri and two in Poonch―in the 90-member assembly. The remaining four are in Kashmir. The nine seats were reserved by the Delimitation Commission, set up after the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019. The commission also reserved seven seats for the scheduled castes.
Muslims, Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis form 90 per cent of the population in Poonch and 62 per cent in Rajouri. Unlike other parts of India, all Gujjars and Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir are Muslims, while Paharis include Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
“Hindus and a good number of Pahari Muslims in Pir Panjal will support the BJP in the assembly elections on all reserved seats owing to the ST status to Paharis,” said a political leader in Rajouri. “Winning seats in Muslim-majority Pir Panjal can be a game changer for the BJP and can significantly reduce the chances of the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress.” Also, the way the delimitation was carried out, especially in Pir Panjal, has given the BJP an edge over the other parties. Before delimitation, Rajouri district had four assembly constituencies―Nowshera, Kalakote, Rajouri and Darhal. Post delimitation, a new constituency, Thanamandi, was carved out and reserved for the scheduled tribes, along with Darhal and Kalakote. Nowshera remains a Hindu-majority constituency after delimitation. In the Kalakote constituency, 51 per cent of the population was Muslim. Eight in 10 Muslims belong to the scheduled tribes. However, the Delimitation Commission severed the Sunderbani tehsil, with 86 per cent Hindus, from Nowshera and attached it to Kalakote, thus ensuring a 64 per cent Hindu majority in Kalakote.
Rajouri constituency had 70 per cent Muslims and 28 per cent Hindus. The Muslim population in the constituency is concentrated in four Muslim-majority patwar halqas or administrative units―Doongi, Fatehpur, Sohna and Bagla. The commission moved all four units from Rajouri to the Thanamandi constituency, giving Hindus electoral heft in Rajouri.
Talib Hussain, a Gujjar leader and founder-member of the All Reserved Categories Joint Action Committee, said that the ST amendment bill was aimed to “manufacture ethnic divisions” in the Muslim-majority region. “The BJP wants to repeat the Manipur experiment in Jammu and Kashmir for political dividends,” he told THE WEEK. “Our unemployment rate is the highest in the country and people are unhappy. Even the Dogra vote bank is slipping from the BJP’s hands―they have lost business and other opportunities to non-locals because of the government’s ill-conceived policies.”
The Gujjar-Bakerwal tribes and the Paharis share a similar sociocultural milieu and are settled in mountains and forested areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The Gujjars and Bakerwals shuttle between Kashmir and Jammu with their livestock. The Paharis, meanwhile, are a stationary community and are better off economically and socially.
On December 25, 2019, a delegation of Paharis met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding ST status. A month later, Paharis were given 4 per cent reservation in the OBC category. A year later, the J&K Commission on Socially and Educationally Backward Classes, headed by G.D. Sharma, was set up. In its 2022 report, the commission recommended ST status for Paharis, Paddaris, Kolis and Gadda Brahmins. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes supported the proposal following the recommendation of the Registrar General of India.
“G.D. Sharma is a Gadda Brahmin. He recommended the ST status for his own community,” said Hussain. “The ST status to Paharis will benefit upper caste Pahari Muslims and Hindus. There is no provision for reservation within a reservation. It will hit tribals very hard.”
However, Haroon Chaudhary, president of the BJP’s ST Morcha, said that these fears were unfounded. “I have checked with Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, BJP MP from (Udhampur in) Jammu, and there is no dilution in the reservation to Gujjars and Bakerwals,” he said. “The ST status to Paharis will be called ST(P).” But he did agree that the move would reap electoral benefits for the BJP.
Meanwhile, the SC category, with 8 per cent reservation, will now include Valmikis along with Churas, Bhangis, Balmikis and Mehtars. The reservation amendment bill seeks to change the nomenclature of the other social (underprivileged) castes, with 4 per cent reservation in Jammu and Kashmir, to the other backward classes. And, as per the reorganisation amendment bill, two Kashmiri Pandits, one of whom will be a woman, and a PoJK refugee will be nominated to the assembly.
The bill was opposed by Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference on the grounds that the J&K Reorganisation Act, under which Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union territories (the other being Ladakh), has been challenged in the Supreme Court. “Introduction of the bill is constitutionally suspect,” he said.
CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami, spokesman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), questioned the tabling of the bills on Jammu and Kashmir in the absence of an assembly. Calling for elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he said all decisions should be taken by representatives of the people.