NPP torches effigy of BJP-led govt to protest new domicile rules in J-K

The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) on Wednesday torched an effigy of the BJP-led central government here to protest the new domicile rules and demanded a relook into the provisions allowing outsiders to become domicile of the union territory.

The JKNPP termed the notification an "obnoxious piece of superimposed legislation" enacted by the executive authority by defying popular sentiment in the erstwhile state.

Lambasting the government over the newly released domicile rules for Jammu and Kashmir, JKNPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh appeared outside his office here and torched the effigy of the BJP-led government at the Centre as a mark of protest.

Seeking its review in the interests of the educated youth of J and K, he said the new set of rules would include several outsiders within the ambit of the domicile law, entitle them to avail domicile certificate and ultimately enable them to encroach upon the share of educated unemployed youth in government jobs in the UT.

"Thousands and thousands of labour force, construction workers and traders from various states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh had been staying in J and K for the last several years and the new rules would automatically make them eligible not only for domicile certificates but also for government jobs which would operate harshly against the local youth whose share in services would further shrink.

"Not only that the opening of jobs for central government employees of other states as also those outside students who pass their 10thand 12thclass with a minimum stay of seven years as they would also become eligible for government jobs thereby depriving the local youth of even the negligible job avenues in J and K," he said.

"This proposition was in complete antithesis of what was assured to the J and K youth prior to August 5, 2019, and has had the effect of dampening their morals," Singh said.

He also expressed dismay over the negligible formalities prescribed under new rules for availing the domicile certificate.

Calling for a relook into the provisions allowing outsiders to become domicile of J and K, he said it was surprising to know that a simple document like ration card or electricity utility bill or educational record or even a labour card was sufficient for persons from other states having minimum prescribed stay in J and K to become its domicile.

"Does it not amount to a cruel joke with the unemployed youth of J and K whose employment and empowerment formed the core agenda of BJP's election manifesto," Singh said.

Describing the new domicile rules as "gross betrayal" with the youth of the UT, the JKNPP leader said the educated unemployed were made to face worst nightmares after the state's reorganization on August 5, 2019.

With not a single post advertised or filled up, the government was indulging in "tantrums and theatrics" with empty slogans devoid of any tangible output.

"The recent notification on domicile rules had come as a bolt from the blue shattering all hopes of the educated youth who were made to wait for the last 10 months with false hopes of a better future. The BJP government must understand that antagonising the unemployed youth could have catastrophic fallouts," he said.