Several political leaders, including ruling National Conference MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders Waheed Para and Iltija Mufti, were placed under house arrest on Sunday to prevent them from joining a students’ protest against the delay in “rationalising” the existing reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Following the arrests, and with police sealing the venue of the protest, the open merit students called off their sit-in demonstration.
Police and paramilitary forces were deployed outside the residences of those backing the students since late Saturday night.
“Armed police have been deployed outside the residence of Hon’ble MP @RuhullahMehdi,” Mehdi’s office posted on X along with photos of police vehicles. “Is this a pre-emptive crackdown to silence a peaceful, pro-student demonstration? If yes, it exposes a disturbing fear of dissent. The authorities owe the public an explanation on what this deployment is for. Our plans for tomorrow (Sunday) stand,” the post said.
PDP’s Para, who, along with Mehdi, has been vocal about the rights of open merit students, was also put under house arrest. “In the middle of the night, @parawahid has been put under house arrest. Why is a peaceful protest for students’ rights being weaponised?,” PDP said in a post on X.
The police also put PDP’s Iltija Mufti and former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Mattu under house arrest.
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Announcing that the protest had been called off, the spokesperson of the open merit students’ association said in a post on X: “Today’s sit-in cum meet-up on the unfair reservation policy stands cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. We urge all students to remain calm. Students are advised to return safely to their hostels, libraries or homes… No student is at fault. There is no threat or risk. Please stay calm and do not panic.”
For a year now, the students have been demanding rationalisation of reservation in government jobs and professional colleges in J&K. Under the current reservation policy, less than 40 per cent of seats are kept for open merit candidates, who form the bulk of the population, while over 60 per cent seats are reserved for different categories.
Both the NC and PDP had promised rationalisation of reservation in their election manifestos. Following pressure, the NC set up a cabinet sub-committee, which recommended 50 per cent seats each for open merit and reserved categories. Earlier, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the cabinet had approved the recommendation, and the file had been sent to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
While the cabinet has left most of the reserved quota untouched, it has recommended slashing of seats under the Residents of Backward Areas (RBA) and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) categories, and shifting these to the open merit quota.
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Two days ago, Mehdi had said that he had not forgotten the students’ issue. “I urge the government once again to talk to the students and apprise them of the measures and decisions taken to resolve this issue… If that does not happen until Saturday, I will not leave our youth and students helpless. I will walk with them and sit with them on Sunday, at the same place as we did last year, to make them heard,” he had said.
Calling the reservation policy an “existential issue” for the younger generations, PDP’s Para had said: “This sit-in is a reminder to the government of its obligation to act with transparency & revamp the existing draconian reservation policy… At the very least, the reservation report must be placed in public domain. Further, if the elected government maintains that the matter presently rests with the Lieutenant Governor, there can still be no justification for withholding the report from public scrutiny.”
On Sunday, NC president Farooq Abdullah said those backing the protests were not happy with the government’s development and wanted to create chaos. “We will not let this happen,” he said.
But NC leader Tanvir Sadiq said the students had a “legitimate democratic right” to protest. “How was it acceptable for the same people to march up to the gates of the Chief Minister’s residence to protest on this issue earlier, but today, when students seek a peaceful protest because a Cabinet decision is pending with Raj Bhavan, the authorities suddenly clamp down and stamp out dissent,” he said. “Let’s be clear: we did not stop students from exercising their legitimate democratic right to protest when the anger was directed towards the elected government. And we will not abandon them now simply because their peaceful protest is directed at Lok Bhavan (Raj Bhavan)”.
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NC spokesman Imran Nabi, meanwhile, claimed that political leaders backing the students had “no place to hide” after they were asked to protest against the L-G. “Many of them, I am told, requested for house arrest,” he claimed.
