Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 20: “Political parties like Congress, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) always exploited the Gujjar community and treated them merely as vote bank. This was the reason that Gujjar and Bakerwal, even after being the third largest ethnic group in erstwhile State, couldn’t come out of poverty, caste stigma and social inequality”.
This was stated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J&K Executive Member, Raman Suri, in a statement issued here, today. He said that Gujjars have always sacrificed their lives and property for their motherland but despite that, several past CMs only made announcements to bring a bill in the State Legislature for political reservation of Scheduled Tribes but nothing happened on ground.
It was the BJP-led Government at the Centre which dared to abrogate Article 370 under the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act” on 5th August 2019, paving way for all Central laws to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. Now, when these laws are fully implemented, the Gujjars and Bakerwals will get ‘political reservation’, a much asked-for demand and almost ten Assembly constituencies will be reserved for them, Raman Suri asserted.
Raman Suri said, when NC and PDP boycotted polls, it was the Gujjars and Bakerwals who took part in elections, and these are the communities which had been facing the brunt of Pakistani firing on borders as well. All important pilgrimages in Jammu as well as Kashmir are incomplete without the support of Gujjars and Bakerwals besides army and paramilitary forces, treat them as part of their contingent.
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