Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 5: In a major initiative, the Scheduled Tribe Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir today extended their full support to Jats of State in their ongoing struggle for inclusion of the community in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) of India.
The Gujjars through Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation –a frontal organization of community in J&K, today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde supporting the demand of Jats for Jammu and Kashmir and demanded that the community being backward be inducted into the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
This was informed by Dr Javaid Rahi, secretary Tribal Foundation.
In a statement, Dr Rahi also asked Jat community of Northern India to support the ongoing movements of Gujjar community in different States of India for Tribal Status especially in the State of Rajasthan where Gujjars are struggling hard for grant of ST status since last 66 years.
He also asked both the community leaders that they must revive pre-1947 relations and renew “J&K Gujjar-Jat Conference” founded in 1931 in the State which was the leading organization of both communities and was a united platform for Gujjars and Jats in State before partition.
He said the Gujjars and Jats historically, culturally and socially share many similarities and together they can do wonders in changing social scenario of India.
In J&K there are lakhs of Hindu and Sikh Jats residing alongside the Muslim Gujjar inhabitants and both communities share many commonalties, he added.
The Government of India has recently recommended the inclusion of Jats of Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (two districts), Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bihar in the Central list of OBC.
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