Rajouri
Seeking to bring together members of the Gujjar-Bakarwal and Pahari communities in Jammu and Kashmir on the same pedestal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday promised reservation to all of them.
Addressing a massive rally in the frontier district of Rajouri, Shah said that the Centre would implement reservations for the Gujjar, Bakarwal and Pahari communities, as recommended by the GD Sharma Committee set up to examine quota benefits.
In case it gets implemented, it would be the first instance of accordance of Scheduled Tribe status to a linguistic group i.e Paharis, whose population in the Union Territory is estimated to be over 8 lakh with a majority being Hindus besides a sizeable number of Muslims.
Reaching out to the cheerful audience who greeted him with chants of Modi-Modi, Shah said, “If the reservation was granted to the Pahari community, it will not affect the reservation for Gujjar and Bakarwal communities under the Scheduled Tribes category.”
Dr. Javaid Rahi, an expert on Tribal Affairs, said that the basis for giving reservation to any ethnic group is always caste and not language. “Till date, no commission has ever recommended reservation for the members of the Pahari community,” he pointed out.
Shah’s attempt at enacting the balancing act comes against the backdrop of the Gujjar-Bakarwal community, which was accorded the ST status way back in 1991 and has a 10 percent reservation quota in education and jobs, staging demonstrations and protests opposing the reservation to the Paharis.
The two sides hold much political significance.
The members of the Pahari community are mostly located in Rajouri, Poonch, Uri, Keran, Karnah, Pahalgam and Shopian. Rajouri and Poonch comprise of eight assembly seats. The Paharis hold the key in Nowshera and Sunderbani while the remaining six seats are inhabited by 40 percent of the Gujjar community, who can effectively tilt the scales during elections.
Similarly, in Baramulla and Kupwara districts of North Kashmir, a large number of Gujjar and Pahari speaking people can turn the tables. By giving reservation to the Pahari community, the BJP wants to strengthen its hold in Rajouri, Poonch and North Kashmir so that the party’s candidates can win in the coming assembly elections.
At the same time, it has made moves to endear itself to the Gujjar community. Recently, Ghulam Ali Khatana, a member of the Gujjar community, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, a move seen as an attempt by the BJP to penetrate into the community’s votebank.
The Gujjar-Bakarwals term the Paharis “elite” and “oppressors” who, they say, are not defined categorically by any historical, sociological or anthropological research.
The Paharis have ruled the region and were very influential during the Dogra regime too. They were tax collectors and the Gujjar-Bakarwals used to do manual jobs on their orders, the community alleges.
Gujjar-Bakarwals make up more than 40% of the total population in the Pir Panjal region but even today they do not control more than 10% of the economic affairs in the area.
“Paharis have always been the rulers in the region and never faced discrimination on the basis of their social identity. They are the upper caste people from different religions— Brahmins, Rajputs, Syeds, Jarals, Maliks, Khans (Rajputs), Mughals etc. They are neither primitive, nor are they marginalized,” said a Gujjar community official, on condition of anonymity.
“Paharis are already enjoying 39% reservation under various categories like RBA, ALC, OBC, EWS etc under J&K Reservation Rules right from 1994 till date,” he said.
Various Commissions and committees appointed by the successive governments in J&K, not even once referred to Paharis as a tribal group and the Census reports have also not referred Paharis as a distinct tribal group, the Gujjar-Bakarwals say.
