Govt changed its order after public backlash
Resentment among Kashmiris and concerns raised by BJP’S Jammu unit as well as JKAP prompted the Centre to amend domicile policy
nNEW DELHI: Resentment among young Kashmiris, concerns raised by the Jammu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and resistance by the newlyformed Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) prompted the Centre to amend the domicile policy of the newly formed Union territory within days of its announcement, people familiar with the development said.
The Centre tweaked the policy on Friday to reserve all government jobs for people domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir. An earlier version of the policy notified on Tuesday had only reserved subordinate jobs for J&K residents, throwing open all others to any person who had resided in the erstwhile state for 15 years or studied there for seven years and appeared for Class 10/12 examinations, resetting the domicile policy.
JKAP chief Altaf Bukhari protested against the first version of the policy to Union home minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. At the time of the formation last month of his party, seen to have the tacit support of the Centre, Bukhari had vowed to work towards restoring J&K’S statehood and ensuring the domicile rights of people in jobs and education.
Soon after his announcement last month, he led a 24-member JKAP delegation to New Delhi to separately meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister.
The top central leadership assured the delegation that the government would take steps to ensure the economic development of the Union territory, tried to allay its concerns over future demographic change and said it would address the grant of state domicile, a JKAP leader said on condition of anonymity.
A new domicile policy had been necessitated by the nullification on August 5, 2019 of Article 370 that conferred special status on J&K and its reorganisation into two Union territories -- J&K and Ladakh. The Centre also did away with Article 35A that allowed the J&K assembly to decide who are the permanent residents of the erstwhile state for whom local government jobs and property ownership were reserved.
The notification on Tuesday resetting the domicile policy drew immediate condemnation by Kashmiri political parties. “Insulted is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised,” National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
Bukhari, who is in Delhi, met Shah and Doval on Friday and conveyed to them his party’s reservations over the new law and demanded that all jobs in J&K be reserved for residents of Jammu and Kashmir. The policy, he told them, would be a big blow to his efforts to make Kashmiris look beyond the nullification of Article 370, according to the people familiar with the developments.
The BJP’S Jammu unit, for its part, informed the party high command about the growing unrest among the young over the domicile policy.
Political leaders based in Jammu said the policy, by reserving only subordinate government posts for the people of J&K and not more senior posts, had upset young people, who felt there was a need to offer some protection to residents after the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A.
“There were concerns that by reserving jobs only in Scale 4, the youth in both the Jammu and Kashmir regions could lose out on employment avenues. In Jammu in particular ,where job opportunities are limited, the youth felt betrayed that post-abrogation of Article 370 the Union government has failed to keep its promise of ensuring development in the region,” a senior functionary of the BJP’S Jammu unit said on condition of anonymity.
According to people aware of the developments, as calls grew louder for revision of the policy, Ram Madhav, the BJP general secretary who has been in-charge of the party’s affairs in the Union territory, apprised the party high command, including the home minister, of the popular sentiment.
“There was a meeting, where Madhav apprised the high command of the resentment brewing among the youth. The government then took a call to take corrective measures even though there was some concern among a section of people over the issue of revising the order,” the functionary cited above said.
Madhav told HT, “Government has acted keeping in view the large-scale unemployment problem in J&K. In the UT, thanks to decades of mismanagement by successive governments, employment avenues became limited. Once the situation improves, job opportunities will also grow. At the moment, government’s decision will help address unemployment problem in Jammu region as well as Kashmir Valley”.
A second party functionary, also based in Jammu, said some leaders in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fount of the BJP, were against jobs being limited only to domiciled residents. “They felt that by imposing reservation, it would mean a replay of the conditions that existed when Article 35A was in force,” the second functionary said.
The government will take a measured view of the domicile issue for the purpose of land purchases, the second BJP functionary said. “Commercialisation of land for real estate purposes will not be allowed; if someone needs land for setting up of industry or for trade and commerce, that will be considered.”
The revision of the domicile policy has come as a shot in the arm for Bukhari who has now pledged to continue his efforts to get this law revisited in its entirety until it satisfies the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will continue to struggle till other hostile sections in the law -- mandatory tenure for nonnatives to reside in J&K and cutoff dates to qualify for the domicile -- are not rectified as per the demands of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Bukhari said.
He also appealed to all the political parties to rise above partisan interests and fight jointly for the rights of the people.
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There were concerns that by reserving jobs only in Scale 4, the youth in both the Jammu and Kashmir regions could lose out on employment avenues.
SENIOR FUNCTIONARY OF
BJP’S JAMMU UNIT