Samba/Jammu: A 13-member Kashmiri Pandit delegation met Rahul Gandhi in Jammu’s Samba, at Zamindara dhaba in Bari Brahma, during a halt in Bharat Jodo Yatra Monday.
During the meeting, a range of issues were raised by the delegation which claimed it wasn’t a “part of any political party”, ThePrint has learnt. The main issue was of Kashmiri Pandits, employed under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package, not getting their salaries for over six months. The administration has refused them salaries as these employees have not resumed work since they began their protest in Jammu in the wake of alleged targeted killings of Hindus in Kashmir last year.
“There is the issue of the salaries of Kashmiri Pandits who have been protesting for the past six months. The government says first join, then you will get the salary,” said one of the members of the delegation to Gandhi, in a video released by the Congress. He added, “I live in Srinagar. It is possible that they will target me tomorrow. I have got no security,” To which Gandhi replied that instead (of asking people to resume work) “right conditions to join should be created” in the Valley.
Another member of the delegation criticised the BJP for its “failure” to help Kashmiri Pandits. “What Congress has done, they (BJP) show it as theirs. They (BJP government) have done nothing, not even a single thing for Kashmiri Pandits,” he said in the video.
'ये लोग (BJP) कश्मीरी पंडितों का सिर्फ इस्तेमाल करते हैं। इन्होंने हमारे नाम का सिर्फ और सिर्फ इस्तेमाल किया है, कुछ किया नहीं।
जब भी चुनाव आता है तो वोट के लिए कश्मीरी पंडित का नाम लेते हैं।'
आज जम्मू में @RahulGandhi जी से कश्मीरी पंडितों का डेलिगेशन मिला और कुछ ऐसी बातें रखी pic.twitter.com/jpVTKvtC9f
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 23, 2023
Ramesh Pandita, a member of the delegation, told ThePrint that none of the members had anything to do with the Bharat Jodo Yatra or any political party. Members were invited to raise their issues, which they did, before Gandhi, he said.
“Kashmiri Pandits were called. Rahul ji said that I have to meet those people who have no political background. He wanted to understand what is happening with Kashmiri Pandits,” said Pandita. “Rahul Gandhi said, ‘We didn’t know that Kashmiri Pandits are not getting salaries for the past six months’. Then we told him that your people here are not telling you the reality,” he said.
Hours after meeting the delegation, Gandhi said at a rally in Jammu’s Satwari, “I was shocked when I met them. They told me that when they went to the Lieutenant Governor, they were told ‘not to beg’. Lieutenant Governor Ji, they are not begging, they are asking for their rights. You should apologise to them.”
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No salary for 6 months
Kashmiri Pandits employed under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package have been protesting for months in Jammu to be relocated outside the Valley after a series of alleged targeted killings. In May last year Rahul Bhat, an employee working under this scheme, was killed in an alleged minority killing by terrorists. Bhat’s killing was also raised in the meeting with Gandhi, ThePrint has learnt.
However, in December last year, L-G Manoj Sinha, while speaking to the reporters, had said, ““We have paid all of them their salaries up to 31 August, but it cannot be allowed that their salary is released when they continue to sit at home. This is a clear message which all shall understand.”
As per Prime Minister’s special package for Kashmiri Pandits, 6,000 jobs were created for the community in the Valley and accommodation for them was also announced in 2008. The salary for the scheme created by the then Manmohan Singh government was given by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Other issues
At the meeting, the issue of Scheduled Caste (SC) quota employees from Jammu, posted in Kashmir, protesting for their salaries was also brought up. Rajni Bala, an SC employee from Jammu was killed in May last year. Since then, many SC employees moved to Jammu following this alleged targeted killing.
Kashmiri Pandit employees also invited Gandhi to visit Jagti Township, a township of two-room tenements, where Kashmiri Pandit refugees live in Jammu. Gandhi has assured them of his visit.
Pandita also added that Gandhi was told “clearly” that no government has done anything for Kashmiri Pandits in the last 32 years. “Every government comes and says, ‘we will do something for Kashmiri Pandits’ but for the past 32 years, no one has done anything. We also clearly told him that Kashmiri Pandits are used like blank cheques, every party uses them. We have been seeing this for 32 years,” said Pandita, who migrated from Pulwama, Kashmir, to Jammu in the 1990s during the Kashmiri Pandit exodus.
Gandhi’s promises
Gandhi assured the delegation that their issue will be raised in the Parliament in the next session, those present at the meeting told ThePrint.
During the meeting itself, Gandhi told Jammu & Kashmir Congress chief Vikar Rasool to “take (down) the points, so we can discuss”. He also told Rasool that a JKPCC delegation should meet Kashmiri Pandits and figure out “hum inke liye kya kar sakte hain (What we can do for them).” The delegation is likely to include Rasool, and AICC J&K incharge Rajni Patil.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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