From Aga To Lone, Jammu Kashmir Politicians Rally Behind Students On Reservation Policy
MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi has become the face of OM students since he joined their protest march outside Chief minister's Omar Abdullah's residence last year.
Published : December 29, 2025 at 11:27 PM IST
By Moazum Mohammad
Srinagar: A loose coalition of politicians from divergent political parties is gradually emerging in Jammu and Kashmir to fight skewed reservation policy which is highly disadvantageous to open merit (OM) students.
Member of Parliament Aga Ruhullah Mehdi has become the face of the OM students since he joined their protest march outside the Chief minister's Omar Abdullah's residence last year. Now, another Member of Parliament Engineer Abdul Rashid has thrown his weight behind aspirants.
Rashid, who is jailed in Tihar for alleged terror funding charges since 2019, has written to Home Minister Amit Shah for population-based reservation policy.
"There is a broad and sincere expectation among the people that reservation in Jammu & Kashmir should be determined strictly in accordance with the population of each community at the District level, Divisional level and UT level," said the letter released to media by his party Awami Itehad Party (AIP).
Rashid reasoned out that a population-based policy would ensure that every community including Open Merit aspirants’ quotas get fair representation in employment. "A framework grounded in demographic reality will not only address longstanding grievances but also strengthen public trust by aligning opportunity with the actual composition of society at each administrative tier," he added.
On the ground, the support is widening. Legislators and politicians such as Waheed Parra, Aga Muntazir Mehdi and former Srinagar Municipal Corporation Mayor Junaid Mattu are rallying behind open merit aspirants, prompting the authorities to house arrest them to prevent their participation in students sit-in in Srinagar's Poloview park on December 28.
But Peoples Conference chairman and legislator Sajad Lone, who is vocal on the reservation issue, holds a divergent view on the strategy. He noted that appealing to the Home Minister risks 'giving more areas' to the central government.
Critical of the government’s approach in addressing the issue, he advocated for restoring district and divisional cadres in recruitment that was abandoned by successive PDP-Congress and NC-Congress governments.
"The restoration of district and divisional cadres will vanish the problem," Lone told ETV Bharat, terming the current government proposals of reducing RBA and EWS quota to compensate Open Merit a "complete murder" of Kashmir’s job share.
The National Conference government following its poll promise in 2024 J&K Legislative Assembly has okayed a ministerial panel report for ‘rationalising’ the reservation policy on December 3.
The current reservation policy brought by the central government came into being in 2024 to accommodate more groups including Scheduled Tribe 2 into quota fold, squeezing Open Merit share in jobs and seats.
While the government has maintained secrecy over granular details of the cabinet subcommittee report, a source said they have recommended increasing the seat and job share of open merit to 50 percent by slashing 7 percent from Economically Weaker Section and 3 percent from Reserved Backward Area.
But the file, according to education minister Sakina Itoo, is pending with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for his approval as the UT rules mandate Lok Bhawan approval for cabinet decision.
Open Merit students representative Sahil Parray, who was among detainees to foil the protest, wants politicians to shed their differences over reservation policy and come together as it affects 70 percent of the population.
He said they will support politicians who will support their cause. "Everyone should be on the same page over reservation and should sincerely work to address this issue. It is for the betterment of the society," he said while charging the National Conference government of running away from its commitment.
"Those who detained us are mistaken that we will give up on our demand. We will decide on further movement in the next few days. None from the government contacted us or condemned detention of students. They could have talked to students like the sub-committee panel talked to us during its hearings," Parray added.
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