Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 1: Demanding ST status for Koli community, J&K National Panthers Party activists today held protest demonstration here today.
Assailing State Government for the neglecting the recommendation of according ST status to ‘Kolis’ along with the Pahari speaking people, a large number of Panther Party workers including the members of Koli community held a protest demonstration at Exhibition Ground here today. The NPP activists led by party chairman Harshdev Singh raised slogans against BJP and State Govt for ignoring the community despite their legitimate claims for inclusion in the ST category.
Flaying State Govt and BJP in particular for depriving the `Kolis’ of their genuine rights, Harshdev described it as yet another venomous doze of discrimination administered to the divested Jammu region. He divulged that while the State cabinet in its meeting recommended the grant of ST status to Pahari speaking people, it blatantly ignored the `Kolis’ despite incorporated commitment of State Government in the ‘Agenda of Alliance”.
He regretted that even a letter of the Union Govt and PMO office on the subject were ignored by State Govt for unknown reasons. He deplored that `Koli’ community which inhabited far flung areas of district Kathua, Udhampur, Doda and Ramban qualified for ST status in view of their cultural distinctiveness and vulnerable socio-economic conditions. He said not even a single BJP MLA of the said area promoted their cause in the Assembly or outside and the Ministers from Jammu region were mute spectators when the State cabinet excluded the Koli community from ST status in its deliberations.
He said that while the grant of ST status to Gaddis, Sippis earlier and now to ‘Paharies’ was praiseworthy but the inadvertent omission of Kolis’ who belonged to marginalized communities needed to be rectified. Mr Singh vowed that NPP shall not relent until the poor, downtrodden and deprived sections of society were bestowed with their rights.
Rajesh Padgotra, Sham Gorkha, Gagan Partap, Nirmal Kishore, Shankar Chib, Kailash Mohan, Khushi Ram and Hukam Chand also spoke on the occasion.
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