Aga Ruhullah Mehdi Ruhullah had earlier given the J&K government until December 20, the end of the Winter Session of Parliament, to resolve students’ issues (File photo)
A year after the general category students’ protest outside J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence, Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi has urged the Jammu and Kashmir government to address their concerns, failing which he said he will join students in another protest at the CM’s residence on Sunday.
“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 till Saturday, I will not leave our youth and students helpless. I will walk with them and sit with them on this coming Sunday at the same place as we did last year on December 23 to make them heard,” he wrote in a post on X.
In November, the National Conference MP had issued an ultimatum to his party to resolve concerns regarding the rationalisation of reservation in J&K. However, the party responded by stating that the reservation report has already been sent to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for his approval. On Friday, party spokesperson and legislator Tanvir Sadiq clarified that “Cabinet has decided on this issue 25 days back as we had promised in our manifesto. That file is now with the Raj Bhawan and we hope that it is cleared soon.”
Ruhullah had earlier given the J&K government until December 20, the end of the Winter Session of Parliament, to resolve students’ issues, stating that “If after the conclusion of this Parliament session on December 20, this issue is not resolved, I will sit with them (protesting students) again the way we did last December. And this time it will not be for a day only.”
Since the Omar Abdullah government took office last year, Ruhullah has sided with the “open merit” students agitating for a population-based rationalisation of reservation in J&K. Representative organisations have argued that reservation for reserved groups in J&K surpasses 60%, leaving the larger group of unreserved students with limited opportunities.
Differences between the MP and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have grown since the former joined a student protest outside the latter’s residence in Srinagar in December last year. The MP has also publicly voiced his resentment against the “government’s lack of progress” on promises made in the party manifesto.
Ruhullah has also stated that the government had sought six months to resolve the students’ issues. However, those six months have turned into a year, and the students are still clamouring for fair representation in government jobs.