Bill on OBC quota in J&K local bodies gets Lok Sabha’s nod

The bill seeks to provide reservation to OBCs in panchayats and municipalities in Jammu and Kashmir and bring consistency in the local body laws of the Union territory with the provisions of the Constitution.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a draft legislation to provide reservation to other backward classes in local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, with the government reiterating that the repeal of Article 370 in 2019 has brought important changes in the Union territory and the opposition demanding that statehood be restored and assembly elections held at the earliest.

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In his reply during the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in the lower house, Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have started enjoying the benefits of development ushered in by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The bill seeks to provide reservation to OBCs in panchayats and municipalities in Jammu and Kashmir and bring consistency in the local body laws of the Union territory with the provisions of the Constitution. “With this, justice will be ensured to the citizens of Other Backward Classes of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after 75 years of independence,” the statement of objects and reasons of the bill said.

In his reply to the discussion, Rai said opposition members participating in the debate were resorting to a drama of supporting the bill granting reservation to OBCs but were also raising other issues.

Several opposition leaders demanded that the central government should hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest. However, Rai made no reference to the opposition’s demand for the government to spell out a time frame for holding elections or the restoration of statehood in his address.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule said while she supported the bill, there were a few things that needed to be clarified. She demanded a timeline and “not a vague” answer from the government on holding assembly polls and giving statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. “While the Election Commission will decide on the date, the government could at least give a tentative timeline for holding the democratic exercise,” she said.

“The government has simply been fiddling with the demographic composition of Jammu and Kashmir in order to score political brownie points,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, adding that he does not oppose the reservations.

A state has been divided into two Union territories for the first time India’s history since Independence, said NK Premachandran, member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.

“The statehood has not been brought back. In such a situation, you are coming with these laws. It is not fair on the part of Parliament to make a law,” Premachandran said. “Let the statehood be brought back and the assembly be reinstated so that the assembly can provide the reservation to the people belonging to the Other Backward Classes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.”