Slashing RBA quota will disempower Kashmiris: Para

PDP MLA Waheed Para on Friday said the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to “slash” the RBA quota is a “calculated attempt to disempower” Kashmiris.

The Pulwama legislator accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of advancing the “disempowerment agenda” and asserted that the Residents of Backward Areas (RBA) quota safeguards Kashmiri representation.

“The J&K government’s cabinet sub-committee decision to slash the RBA quota under the guise of ‘rationalisation’ is a calculated attempt to disempower Kashmiris,” Para said on X.

Omar on Thursday said the Cabinet has accepted the sub-committee report on reservation, which would be sent to L-G Manoj Sinha for approval. However, there was no word on what the contents of the report were.

On December 10 last year, the government had constituted the Cabinet sub-committee to look into grievances raised by various sections of aspirants against the existing reservation policy in the Union Territory.

Para said, “By endorsing it, Omar Abdullah isn’t defending equity, he’s advancing the disempowerment agenda”. In another post, Para sought the immediate release of the cabinet sub-committee report. “Kashmiris gave Omar Abdullah a historic mandate to defend their rights — yet he stands with the most anti-Kashmiri decision in decades. The new reservation matrix is a political project to dilute Kashmiri representation. We seek the immediate release of the sub-cabinet committee report,” he said.

The PDP MLA said NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah started a mission of Kashmiri empowerment, but it is now being “reversed by his own party to defend an illegal, BJP-driven reservation policy”.