The former Chief Minister and vice-president of the National Conference could not control his anger over the BJP's expanding its footprints among nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals of Jammu and Kashmir.
While addressing the one-day Gujjar-Bakerwal conference organized by the party at Jammu, Omar Abdullah expressed his worries over the efforts of the BJP to make inroads among this nomadic community.
Gujjar and Bakerwals are traditionally a strong vote bank of the National Conference so Omar Abdullah has reasons to be worried.
Omar Abdullah admitted that his party has failed to solve the grievances of this tribal community.
Omar Abdullah specially mentioned the victory of Gujjar leader Abdul Gani Kohli from the Kalakote assembly segment in the 2014 assembly polls.
"A member of your community was elected on the BJP ticket from Kalakote by defeating the National Conference candidate", Omar Abdullah said in an obvious reference to the 2014 assembly elections when BJP's Abdul Gani Kohli defeated the National Conference stalwart Thakur Rashpal Singh.
Omar Abdullah admitted that the National Conference leadership was taking Gujjar-Bakerwals far granted without addressing their genuine issues.
"Members of the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are not responsible for this but we are own responsible for the same", he said and admitted that the National Conference leadership failed to connect with the tribal community.
BJP nominates a Gujjar as a Rajya Sabha member from J&K
By nominating a young Gujjar leader Ghulam Ali Khatana to the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has tried to win the trust of the Gujjar-Bakerwal, the third largest ethnic group of Jammu and Kashmir.
First time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, a Gujjar was nominated to the Upper House of the Parliament by BJP. Engineer Ghulam Ali Khatana was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by BJP in 2022.
After setting a target of winning 50-plus seats in the maiden assembly elections in the Union Territory of J&K, the BJP is assiduously trying to make inroads among different sections of the society.
On the one hand, the BJP has promised to grant Scheduled Tribe (STs) status to Pahari-speaking people while on the other hand, the party has played another calculated move by nominating a Gujjar to the Rajya Sabha.
Gujjar-Bakerwals gets political reservation after abrogation of Art 370
Before nominating Gujjar leader Engineer Ghulam Ali Khatana as a Rajya Sabha member, the BJP granted political reservation to the Scheduled Tribes of J&K after the abrogation of Article 370.
The Delimitation Commission in its report has reserved nine seats in the Legislative Assembly for Scheduled Tribes and seven for Scheduled Castes.
While Scheduled Castes are already getting political reservations, the STs will get nine reserved seats for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. In the coming assembly polls, nine seats will be reserved for STs in J&K.
Unlike other parts of the country, there was no political reservation to the STs in the legislative assembly or Lok Sabha seats of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Political reservation to STs would be granted after the abrogation of Article 370.
Although all political parties claimed to minimize the woes of the ST communities, the political reservation was not granted to these communities before the abrogation of Article 370.
