Jammu: A district development council member and a block development council chairperson were among several activists who quit the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday protesting its “anti-Pahari community stance” over the demand of Scheduled Tribe status.
The Pahari community has been seeking Scheduled Tribe status for 30 years, ever since the Gujjars and Bakarwals in Jammu and Kashmir got the status in 1991 helping them get a reservation in jobs and admission to educational institutes.
Following the Delimitation Commission’s recent recommendation of granting political reservation for the Paharis as well, leaders of the community have come together to make a fresh push for the same.
“We have resigned from the Congress in protest against their anti-Pahari community stance over the grant of ST status to them. I along with BDC chairperson Thanamandi and party workers have resigned,” DDC member Abdul Qayoom Mir told reporters in Rajouri.
He said they will join the party that helps in granting Paharis the Scheduled Tribe status.
Mir accused the Congress of creating roadblocks in the way of the Pahari community getting the status thus “forcing us to quit the party”.
