Seeking the reservation of all J&K jobs for the locals of erstwhile State, a strong contingent of NPP led by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman-JKNPP & former Minister today held a massive protest in Jammu and torched the effigy of the BJP Govt. The protestors raised slogans of “J&K ke berozgar yuvaon ke saath insaf karo, insaf karo”, “Dohri neeti nahin chalegi, nahin chalegi”, “BJP hai hai” and so on. Referring to the statement of MP Chief Minister, Mr. Shiv Raj Singh Chouhan that all jobs in Madhya Pradesh would be reserved exclusively for residents of that state, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh today questioned the BJP government over its double standards with regard to employment avenues existing in J&K. He said that J&K as a State prior to August 5, 2019 enjoyed a similar status in the matter of government jobs with exclusive rights available to the local youth in employment with a bar on outsiders to apply in J&K. He said that the BJP government had assured that suitable provisions would be incorporation in the new laws introduced after abrogation of Article 370 for saving the jobs and lands of locals which however turned out to be a hyperbole. He said that by virtue of new domicile law, the government had allowed thousands of outsiders belonging to Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttarakhand etc to participate in the selections process for all kinds of jobs available in J&K. Pointing towards the assurances given by local and central BJP leaders over job security to J&K youth, Mr. Singh said that opening of jobs to outsiders settled in J&K after the extension of new domicile law had operated harshly against the local youth who were divested of their existing rights and privileges. He said that huge influx of outsiders in J&K and their participation in government jobs would leave very little scope of absorption for locals in government sector in the new UT. This was evident from the fact that for 8575 Class-IV posts, there were more than 5.62 lakh applicants which included aspirants from several other states of the country who had availed domicile certificates in the new UT under the most obnoxious policy enunciated by the BJP government, said Singh. Robbing the J&K youth of negligible employment avenues in the new UT would cost dearly for the BJP, said Singh while urging upon the government to amend the laws in favour of the local youth on the analogy of Madhya Pradesh. He said by refusing the reservation of jobs for locals, the BJP government had once again been exposed for its hypocrisy and its dual standards.
Seeking protection of jobs of J&K youth, Mr. Singh said that if special provisions for several other states including Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh etc. would be provided under Article 371 of the Constitution of India, it would be wholly unjustified to divest even the educated unemployed youth of their special rights while writing down Article 370. He said that Maharashtra and Gujarat have also been provided some special concessions in Article 371 in the matter of development and employment in various regions including Vidarbha and Marathwada (Maharashtra) and Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat. Saving the lands and jobs of youth of J&K needs to be ensured by virtue of a similar constitution provision, added Singh.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Capt. Anil Gour, Surinder Chouhan, Ravinder Singh Jamwal, Vinod Singh Jamwal, Rajesh Gondhi, Rakesh Gupta, Khajur Singh, Yash Paul Sharma, Nirmal Kishore, Gurdeep Singh@Raju, Sourav, Kirti Fangotra, Gourav, Bishnu, Sohan Singh, Gagandeep, Kulveer Singh, Mohinder Singh, Aman Chouhdary, Lovepreet, Vikas Bhagat, Sunil Mehra, Vijay Bhagat besides others.