Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader and Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Monday joined hundreds of protestors outside Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence to demand a review of the Union Territory’s reservation policy for education and goverment jobs, reported Greater Kashmir.

In March, the Jammu and Kashmir government under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha increased the percentage of reserved category seats in the Union Territory to 60%. It did so by reducing the number of general category seats by 10%.

The move elicited widespread criticism.

Mehdi had announced on Sunday that he would join protestors outside Abdullah’s residence to demand that the reservation policy be rationalised.

“I had promised the students that I will protest in their favour and today we are here to fight for them,” Ruhullah said on Monday, addressing a gathering that included students and leaders from other political parties, including the People’s Democratic Party.

“We will raise our voice in favour of students at every platform to get favourable results,” he said. “I know the government has listened to you and formed a cabinet sub-committee, but I am not satisfied with it and I would only be satisfied when students are satisfied.”

In its manifesto for the recently concluded Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference had promised that the reservation policy “will be reviewed and any injustice and imbalance will be corrected”.

On December 10, the Jammu and Kashmir government constituted a sub-committee to examine the grievances raised by students and government job aspirants with regard to the reservation policy.

On Sunday, Abdullah said that the sub-committee was in the process of starting its work by engaging all stakeholders.

“The reservation policy has also been challenged in the Hon’ble High Court of J&K and Ladakh,” Abdullah said in a post on X. “We will, of course, be bound by any judgement when the final legal options have been exhausted.”

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