Lok Sabha passed two bills last week that took the nominated seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly to five and included a new set of people in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservation list. Syed Shadab Ali Gillani reports the impacts the twin laws can have in the new Naya Kashmir
For federally ruled Jammu and Kashmir, the Lok Sabha passed two important pieces of legislation – the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which aims to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aimed at amending the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004.
While the Government of India sees the twin legislations as “empowering” for sections of people marginalised over the years, most of the stakeholders see them as attempts to strategically alter the political landscape in the ruling BJP’s favour ahead of the 2024 general elections. “For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and seats have also been reserved for Scheduled Castes,” Home Minister Amit Shah said. “Earlier, there were 37 seats in Jammu, which have now become 43, there were 46 seats in Kashmir earlier, which have now become 47, and 24 seats have been kept reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir because PoK is ours.”
The passage of these bills is a follow-up to the delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir assembly seats in 2022 which saw the overall berths going from 107 to 114. Of the seven seats increased in the tally, six were given to the Jammu region and berths set aside for areas on the other side of the LoC remained 24. For the first time, nine seats were reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) – three in Poonch, two out of five in Rajouri, and one each in Reasi, Anantnag, Ganderbal, and Bandipore. Seven seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC).
The delimitation commission had recommended the reservation of seats for both Kashmiri Pandits and displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) or refugees. The nomination bill was tabled based on this recommendation on July 23, 2023, and passed last week.
The Bill authorised the lieutenant governor to nominate up to two members, one essentially a woman, from the Kashmiri Pandit migrant community to the assembly. Besides, the Bill entrusted the LG to nominate one member representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. With the provision of two women getting nominated to the house already in vogue, the total number of nominated members of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly will now be five. “By providing reservations to displaced Kashmiris, they will have a voice in the Kashmir Assembly, and in the event of future displacement, they will be better equipped to prevent it,” the Home Minister asserted.
Under the reservation amendment passed by the Lok Sabha, the reservations in admission to jobs and professional institutions to members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and educationally backward classes were extended.
Opposition Reacts
The response was on the expected lines. The primary contention of the opposition was the “illegality” of these acts, as the Supreme Court’s decision on the reading down of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir was still awaited. They questioned the ethics of such legislation. Manish Tewari said the legislation goes against “constitutional morality”.
Omar Abdullah argued that the power to nominate members should have been given to the elected government instead of the Lt Governor.
Communist leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also questioned the approval of the pieces of legislation at a stage when the Reorganisation Act itself was under judicial scrutiny. On the reservation bill, he said it seemed more like a linguistic revision than a substantial change.
Mehbooba Mufti asserted the process was “illegal” as the amendments to a law is sub-judice. She accused the government of disregarding the Constitution, Parliament, and the Supreme Court, asserting that these institutions were being undermined.
There were interesting responses from Pandits as well, whose two members are being nominated to the house. Some vocal Pandit leaders in Jammu said the provision of nomination to the house indicates they are unlikely to go home. Political activist, Mohit Bhan argued that this approach might superficially empower the community but will effectively disconnect the community from their roots. “A more intelligent and democratic strategy is required to protect Kashmiri Pandits’ political rights,” Bhan believes. “Embracing democratic principles, developing meaningful interaction, and establishing channels that unite communities rather than perpetuate differences are all necessary steps toward actual empowerment.”
Numbers Unchanged
The bills created an impression that the numbers of the assembly had gone up. “The effective strength of the assembly remains the same – 90, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, for Secretary Law, who also presided over the assembly and council as Secretary, said. “While the nominated members will have all the privileges of members, they do not have voting rights that will alter the government formation or the confidence or no-confidence votes. Any party that has 45 votes will be forming the government and it remains unchanged.”
Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislative set-up involving the directly elected assembly and the indirectly elected legislative council. After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, all provisions of the Constitution of India were extended to Jammu and Kashmir. Consequently, the state constitution became obsolete, and Jammu and Kashmir were reorganised into two Union Territories. The Legislative Council was abolished under Section 59 of the Reorganization Act, leaving the assembly to survive with changed numbers after delimitation.
Reservations
Unlike nominations to the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, the reservations are adding a lot of heat and dust to the political landscape especially after the Pahadis were added to the ST list. It has two facets to it. Firstly, how will the nine berths in the assembly operate amongst the Gujjar and Bakerwals and other tribes now with a huge population of Pahadi also getting into the fold? Secondly, will the reservations impact the existing share of the earlier ST people in jobs and admissions? The bill passed by the Lok Sabha provided reservation in jobs, and educational institutions under the ST category (10 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir) to Pahadis, Gadda Brahmin, Koli, and Paddari Tribe communities, thereby shrinking the prospects of the already-defined ST communities of J&K.
“As far as the nine reserved seats in the assembly are concerned, it now depends on the political parties and the voting pattern in the areas about who will eventually make it to the assembly,” Mir said. “At the time of nominations, the political parties will make their own choices – whether to send a Gujjar or a Pahadi as their candidate and it eventually will be decided by the voter, whom they will choose.” Analysts believe that the intervention has the potential of pitting the two communities against each other.
Gujjar and Bakerwal community has been very restive over the impact that the inclusion of “elite” Pahadis will have on their reservations in jobs and admissions. They believe they have been assured by the Government of India that their share will not get diluted but it remains to be seen if at all that can happen once the new policy gets rolled out. In Jammu and Kashmir, more than fifty percent of the jobs and admissions take the reservation route making open merit a minority.
Election Demand
The focus on Jammu and Kashmir in the parliament led politicians to demand a clear timeline for elections in the erstwhile state. They also sought the restoration of the state of Jammu and Kashmir as well. Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since 2018 and after 2019, it survived as a federally governed Union Territory.
Responding to the debate, Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, and Culture, Arjun Ram Meghwal, cited the constitutional mandate of the Election Commission of India (EC) to conduct elections. He emphasised that the government stands prepared for elections once the EC announces them.
Post Script
The Supreme Court is announcing the verdict on the number of petitions challenging the reading down of Article 370 on December 11, 2023. The future of all the post-2019 interventions shall now be seen in the backdrop of the verdict by the Constitution Bench comprising five top judges of the Supreme Court.
