New contours as J&Okay map redrawn: Paharis press for ST standing, NC loses key chief

The resignation got here two days after Bukhari shared dais with BJP J&Okay president Ravinder Raina at a convention of Pahari leaders from Rajouri and Poonch on Sunday, the place the demand for ST standing was made.

Paharis have been in search of ST standing now for 30 years, for the reason that grant of the identical to Gujjars and Bakarwals in J&Okay in 1991, resulting in reservation in jobs and seats in academic establishments for them. After the Delimitation Commission just lately really useful political reservation for them as effectively, Pahari leaders have come collectively to make a contemporary push for a similar.

Sources stated that throughout the convention held on Sunday, Raina stated the BJP was dedicated to granting ST standing to Paharis. And that Bukhari introduced from the dais that if this was carried out, he would break his close to three-decade affiliation with the NC and be a part of the BJP.

Describing himself as an NC loyalist who had stood by the celebration by way of thick and skinny, Bukhari, in a quick resignation letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah, stated: “Your fixed insistence on me foregoing the Pahari trigger has made this relationship untenable for me. “

The primary NC face in Poonch district’s Surankote space, Bukhari has been elected twice as MLA from right here, and served as a minister in addition to vice-chairman of the Pahari Board. He was thought of near the Abdullahs.

It is actually the non-Gujjars in Rajouri and Poonch who’ve been in search of ST standing saying they face the identical hardships of the hilly districts because the Gujjars and Bakarwals. However, the latter are against this as it will imply sharing of the benefits of the reservation accessible to them.

As per the 2011 Census, the Gujjar and Bakarwal inhabitants in Poonch district is 43% and Rajouri 41%. The remaining inhabitants in each the districts, together with Hindus and Muslims, name themselves Paharis.

Bukhari instructed The Indian Express that he had met Farooq Abdullah a number of occasions over the previous few days, and it was indicated to him that the NC did not take kindly to his sharing a platform with the BJP. Then, on Tuesday, he claimed that Abdullah had accused him of getting joined the BJP.

NC Jammu province president Rattan Lal Gupta denied Bukhari’s claims, saying the celebration was but to obtain any resignation letter from him and that it had at all times supported ST standing for Paharis. Gupta identified that when he was the Chief Minister, Abdullah had written a letter to the Central authorities on the difficulty, in addition to handed a decision within the Legislative Assembly asking the Center to grant ST standing to Paharis.

Gupta stated that even within the latest previous the NC had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to press for a similar.

Bukhari has now turn out to be the fourth distinguished NC chief within the Jammu province to stop since its then Jammu president Devender Singh Rana joined the BJP together with Surjit Singh Slathia in October. Another former minister, Prem Sagar Aziz, later stop the NC.

BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi stated Bukhari’s resignation was a fallout of the Pahari group’s rising disillusionment with the NC, PDP and Congress. He added: “With the reconfiguration of the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency and the Assembly seats in Poonch and Rajouri districts (as proposed by the Delimitation Commission), the Pahari group sees a political alternative and the chance for illustration even within the Lok Sabha. “

Sethi stated that within the coming days, extra Pahari leaders may stop the NC, in addition to the Congress and PDP, and type their very own political entrance. “It is good for democracy.”