Why the demand to roll back J&K reservation policy has Omar Abdullah government in a bind

In March, the Jammu and Kashmir government increased the percentage of reserved categories in the union territory to 60%. It did so by slicing away 10% of the jobs and educational opportunities that general category candidates would compete for.

The decision did not go down well with the majority of the population, as Scroll had reported. In its manifesto for the Assembly elections, the National Conference had promised that the reservation policy “will be reviewed and any injustice and imbalance will be corrected.”

Since taking over the reins of the union territory in mid-October, the National Conference government has been besieged by demands from the general category aspirants to roll back changes in the reservation policy. “The youth, especially those belonging to the open category, feel that they are not getting their rights,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters.

One of the first decisions of the Abdullah government was to set up a cabinet sub-committee to review the reservation policy for jobs and education in Jammu and Kashmir.

But observers in Jammu and Kashmir say that is easier said than done.

“Any reservation once given is very difficult to withdraw,” said Rekha Chowdhary, former professor of political science at University of Jammu. “The National Conference might have started with constituting a cabinet sub-committee. But it will be a long-drawn process.”

Another political observer in Srinagar, who declined to be identified, agreed. “It’s a time-buying exercise. Had it been so easy, they [NC] would have already taken a decision to reverse it.”

Changes in reservation

Under the new reservation policy announced by the union territory administration, the reservation for Scheduled Tribes was increased to 20% from 10 %. Among those who benefitted from this step included the million-strong Pahari-speaking community, who populate most of the Pir Panjal region of Jammu.

While the demand for including the Pahari community into Scheduled Tribes was decades-old, the Gujjars and Bakerwals, a community electorally important for the Bharatiya Janata Party, had fiercely resisted their inclusion in the existing 10 % ST quota.

The administration found a way around the problem. It left the Gujjar-Bakerwal’s share of reservation untouched and added 10% to the ST pool. This additional 10 % was sliced away from the general category share, reducing it to 40%.

For context, the share of the general category population in Jammu and Kashmir is 69 %, according to the 2011 census. However, some of them are eligible for reservation for economically weaker sections.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the unemployment rate is among the highest in the country. But because of the absence of a private sector, the government is the largest employer – and a government job is high in demand.

The new reservation policy puts job aspirants from the general category – who are the majority of the population in the union territory – at a disadvantage.

“We are not against reservation for the marginalised,” said Zeeshan Ahmad, a 28-year-old research scholar in Srinagar. “All we want is that the reservation should be proportionate to the population. How can 70% of the population compete in a bracket of 30-40%?” he asked.

Their anxiety has been aggravated as the vacancies announced by various institutions since the elected government took over are being filled according to the new reservation policy. Pushed against the wall, the general category candidates’ demand for a rollback is growing louder.

The electoral math

Many saw the new reservation policy as a way for the Bharatiya Janata Party to attract votes from the Paharis living in the Muslim-majority Pir Panjal region of Jammu and some frontier segments of Kashmir Valley.

However, in the recently concluded assembly elections, this failed to benefit Bharatiya Janata Party electorally. Out of the eight seats in Poonch and Rajouri, the party won one. The party’s state president Ravinder Raina, a Pahari, failed to retain his Nowshera assembly seat.

Electoral concerns may also hold the National Conference back in changing the reservation math.

The results of the assembly elections show that the party has done well in the Pir Panjal region, winning four seats. Two successful independent candidates from the region also went on to join the National Conference after the results

“NC has been the beneficiary of the Pahari vote in Poonch and Rajouri,” Chowdhary, the former professor in Jammu University, said. “Revising the reservation policy is not very easy to do given this fact.”

Chowdhary argued that the party is caught “between its core constituency in Kashmir Valley, where the demand for revising the reservation policy is widespread, and Jammu region, which is home to communities who have benefited from the new reservation policy.”

The Srinagar-based political observer agreed with the assessment. “Essentially, it's faced with [the choice of] – the core vote base versus the peripheral vote.”

He explained: “The Pir Panjal region is decisive for the NC in elections because winning there is key to make it look like a pan-J&K party. Therefore, it will be electorally and politically difficult for a party to survive in this region if it decides to do away with reservation.”

With the Jammu region of the union territory voting overwhelmingly for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Kashmir Valley for the National Conference respectively, questions have been raised about the representative character of the Omar Abdullah government.

To counter those arguments, the National Conference chose three of the five members of the cabinet from the Jammu region. Two of them, including the deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, are from the Pir Panjal region. Choudhary is also a Pahari.

The legal option

Rekha Chowdhary, the former professor of political science at University of Jammu, said that a challenge to the policy in the courts might help the National Conference. “It wouldn't like to be seen as taking any position on this issue.”

Two petitions challenging the policy have been filed before the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

In 1992, a nine-judge bench case before the Supreme Court had set a 50% cap on caste-based reservations in India. Like many states across India, Jammu and Kashmir has also breached this cap.

This might provide a window to the National Conference to untangle the issue, argued Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a former professor of law at Central University of Kashmir. “The old reservation policy can be brought back on the very principle [that the new policy violates the ] 50 % cap for reservation set down by the Supreme Court,” said Hussain.

According to Hussain, the apex court’s cap is meant to ensure that the “general category population should not be denied access to jobs and education in the name of promotion of marginalised groups.”

Backing a legal recourse to the issue, however, may not suit the National Conference – at least publicly. “Politically, they can't say that the court will decide as they might then be perceived as inactive and powerless,” said the Srinagar-based political observer.

He predicted minimal tinkering with the reservation policy. “It's not possible to bring it back to the earlier position [old reservation policy]. Marginally, there will be some dilution in the percentage of reservation but it can’t be reversed,” he added. “It will be more like a balancing act.”