Bills and a coup

Scheduled tribes status to certain groups in Jammu and Kashmir invites criticism; move seen as BJP's electoral strategy

- TARIQ BHAT

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 tribesthree in Rajouri and two in Poonchin 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.