First line of defence at border, Jats search to be heard as J&Okay barriers redrawn

The Fee — which has been assigned the duty to redraw barriers of Meeting and Parliamentary constituencies in J&Okay — has proposed reservation of 7 seats for SCs in Jammu, of which a minimum of 5 have a substantial Jat inhabitants in border spaces of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

?️ Subscribe Now: Get information Top class to get right of entry to the most productive Election reporting and research ?️

From Kathua to Nowshera within the Jammu department, just about 5 lakh Jats live alongside the World Border and the Line of Regulate with Pakistan. With the exception of a couple of settlements in Jammu that existed right through the reign of the erstwhile Dogra rulers, maximum Jats have migrated to the area from Pakistan occupied Kashmir right through Partition. A majority of the inhabitants is Hindu, speaks Punjabi, and is culturally nearer to the Jat Sikhs of Punjab.

Whilst many contributors of the group are into agriculture, a substantial collection of younger Jats have additionally joined the Military and different safety forces. The group has Muslim contributors as neatly, many whom have settled within the Mendhar space of Poonch and Baramulla in Kashmir.

Just about 100 Jat households additionally live in Chenani space of Udhampur district, whose ancestors are believed to have come to the area from Rajasthan to accompany the bride of then Raja of Ramnagar. The households residing in Nowshera migrated from PoK’s Bhimber Gali in 1947.

Following the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan, many Jat households had been additionally settled alongside the World Border, from Akhnoor to Kathua, by means of the then governments.

As according to the draft record of the Delimitation Fee, all constituencies the place the Jats have an important inhabitants alongside the World Border had been reserved for Scheduled castes. One constituency (Mendhar) alongside the LoC, which has a sizeable inhabitants of Jat Muslims, has been reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Throughout the 2014 polls within the erstwhile state, two Jat leaders – Sukhnandan Choudhary and Sham Choudhary had were given elected to the Meeting from Marh and Suchetgarh constituencies respectively. Then again, as according to the Fee’s draft proposal, each those seats had been reserved for Scheduled Castes.

The group’s anger used to be obvious Monday when the Fee — headed by means of retired Splendid Courtroom pass judgement on Ranjana Prakash Desai — interacted with stakeholders from Jammu area for comments on its draft proposal. A delegation of Jats led by means of Manmohan Choudhary of the All India Jat Maha Sabha (AIJMS) wondered the Fee concerning the “parameters followed by means of it” to redraw the bounds. Mentioning the instance of Ramgarh, Choudhary identified to the Fee that the Jat majority space have been clubbed with the “far away SC- ruled Katli and Deoni panchayats of Samba” and reserved for Scheduled Castes.

Every other Jat chief, who didn’t want to be known, stated that the “Jats in J&Okay had been being made to pay for the protests towards the farm regulations in the course of the delimitation workout”. “The Fee’s record has divided now not simplest tehsils, however blocks within the area as neatly,” he added.

In the meantime, at the same time as Jats throughout Jammu department proceed to stay dissatisfied with the BJP-led executive on the Centre over the delimitation workout, on Tuesday Jat chief and PDP basic secretary Surinder Choudhary joined the saffron party.

With the exception of being a distinguished face from the group within the Nowshera Meeting constituency, Choudhary could also be a refugee from PoK and has a substantial affect over the gang. Throughout the District Building Council (DDC) elections in 2020, his strengthen helped the PDP win in Nowshera, the local position of J&Okay BJP president Ravinder Raina.

“I’ve now not betrayed the PDP, the PDP has betrayed me… We can paintings to be sure that the BJP paperwork the following executive in J&Okay,” Choudhary stated in a short lived deal with on the BJP headquarters after becoming a member of the party.