The Madhya Pradesh government’s move to do away with the one per cent quota for displaced Kashmiris in all government colleges has not gone down well with Kashmiris across the nation. Many have called it yet another discrimination meted out to them.
Bilal, PHD Scholar, said, “We are Indians but they don’t treat us as Indians. There is lot of discrimination against us.”
Another Kashmiri student Dawood Ahmad said that the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision will just add to the woes that they are facing.
“Initially there was a 20 per cent quota for outsiders in every college and university. And a separate one per cent quota for kashmiris but now the government has decided to do away with that which indeed is sad. Already there is a lot of problem in Kashmir,” said Ahmad.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has also expressed his anguish over the scrapping of the quota. The decision to cut the quota is reported to have come after the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad pressurised the government.
“Disgraceful: Hindutva groups campaign to keep Kashmiri students out of Madhya Pradesh,” Omar tweeted on a social networking site.
The Madhya Pradesh government, however, said that the move was not after receiving any pressure from anywhere but was done as students from their own state were not getting admission into the university.
Sanjay Tiwary, Registrar, Barkatullah University, said, “We had one per cent seats reserved for Kashmiri students but then our own students were not getting admission.”
It was during the NDA regime that the quota for displaced Kashmiri youth was brought in. Initially only Kashmiri pandits were allowed to avail this facility but over the years anyone from Kashmir was given that benefit. The Madhya Pradesh government’s move to do away with the quota is likely to divide the student community on the outsider issue.
–Agencies