SPO’s killing exposes unending woes of Valley Rajputs

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Raipur (Jammu), Sept 23

Members of over five families gathered at Raipur village in the outskirts of Jammu city to mourn the killing of Special Police Officer (SPO) Kulwant Singh, who was killed by militants at Batagund village of Shopian in Kashmir valley on Friday.

These families were displaced from the Shopian area after the eruption of militancy in the Valley.

Along were Kashmiri Pandits, over 500 Rajput families were also displaced from the Valley in 1990, but their plight has never been addressed by the successive state governments. Instead, they have been marginalised by the authorities.

The killing of the SPO has exposed the unending plight of Rajputs in the Kashmir valley. They are facing systematic neglect and marginalisation.

“Once we were ‘jagirdars’ in the Valley, but now, most of us are struggling to earn our livelihood. This is due to the discriminatory policies of the successive state governments,” Dalit Singh, whose father had migrated from the Shopian area in 1990.

When migration started in the early 90s, some Dogra families preferred to stay in the Valley and Kulwant Singh’s family was one of them.

“No efforts have been made by the authorities to give incentives to Dogra Rajput families living in Kashmir,” Dalit Singh regretted and maintained that the unending woes of Rajput families of the Kashmir valley were increasing with every passing day.

“After 1947, successive state governments neglected and marginalised us in a systematic way. As a result, our people were excluded from the state mechanisms and policies. We became poor and marginalised,” said Khajoor Singh, 80, another Rajput migrant from the Valley living in the Nai Basti area of Jammu.

Prof Shalinder Singh, an eminent historian, said Dogra Rajputs from Raipur, Birpur, Ramnagar, Jandrah, Samba and other areas of the Jammu region were offered ‘jagirs’ by Maharaja Ranjit Singh after annexing Kashmir from the Afghans in 1819. “Since 1819, Dogra Rajputs have been living in different parts of the Kashmir valley,” he said, adding, “Rajputs from Jammu also got ‘jagirs’ from founder of the state of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Ghulab Singh, who became the ruler of the state in 1846.”