Manga Matoo, a 52-year-old Safai Karamchari of Jammu Municipal Corporation, finds it difficult to control his emotions while narrating the success story of his elder daughter Ekta Matoo, who is studying law at a college affiliated with the University of Jammu.
Manga has reason to be cheerful as it was his dream to provide professional education to his children so as to ensure a respectable future for them. A dream that had hitherto seemed impossible.
“It is only after the abrogation of the discriminatory Article 35A that we can hope to see our next generations live in Jammu and Kashmir with dignity and honour,” says Manga Matoo, adding, “My daughter got admission in a professional course only after the BJP’s government historical decision to abrogate Article 35A because she was granted domicile certificate like other residents of the Union Territory of J&K”.
It was only after getting a domicile certificate that Ekta was allowed to appear in the entrance examination for admission in Law. Earlier, when Article 35A was in force, the Valmikis of Jammu were not eligible for domicile at all.
“Abrogation of Article 35A has made it possible for a student like me to fulfill the dream of becoming an advocate”, Ekta Matoo says. “For decades our helpless and voiceless community has faced the worst kind of discrimination and prejudice. This government ended our frustration with one strike by abrogating Article 35A,” she says, adding that the confidence of educated Valmiki youth has boosted manifold after August 5, 2019.
Meritorious Valmiki youth, who had lost all hope of doing respectable jobs due to Article 35A, are now actively participating in entrance and competition examinations.
“Earlier we couldn’t even dream of pursuing professional studies… we have seen how the students older to us had to face extreme frustration and depression as they were debarred from professional courses because they did not have Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC), popularly known as State Subject,” Ekta says.
Ekta Matoo is not an isolated case. In the last four years, a large number of Valmiki youth have cracked entrance exams of different professional courses. The happiness of their parents knows no bounds, as they see a bright future for the future generations.
Abhijeet, another Valmiki, aspires to crack the prestigious Jammu and Kashmir Combined Services Examination. He is pursuing graduation, having secured 98 percent marks in Class 12th examinations. “Now we are eligible to participate in the recruitment process of all government jobs in J&K,” says Abhijeet, exuding confidence.
On August 5, 2019, the Narendra Modi-led central government issued a Presidential order superseding the 1954 order that made all the provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Before this date, and since independence, a large section of the people of J&K (erstwhile state) were meted out gross injustices – for over six decades they were consistently denied certain fundamental and legal rights enshrined in the Constitution of India. The earlier dispensations never cared to even acknowledge their woes – either at the state or central level.
BEFORE AUGUST 5, 2019
Article 35A shattered all dreams of Dalit girl Meenu Gill.
The story of Meenu Gill, a Dalit girl residing in the Valmiki Colony of Jammu City, is heart-rending – a complete contrast from Ekta Matoo and the other Valmiki youth who cleared Class 12th examinations after August 5, 2019.
Meenu Gill was a very bright student at school and dreamt of becoming a doctor. Her parents, who had worked as safai karamcharis all their life, were proud of their daughter and decided to bear the cost of her MBBS course. When she cleared Class 12 exams in the year 2000, Meenu prepared to apply for the medical entrance exam. But the family was in for a cruel shock when they realized she could not appear for the entrance because she did not have the Permanent Resident Certificate.
“With the aim of becoming a doctor, I opted for medical subjects in my secondary classes and secured good marks in the Class 12 examinations but I was denied permission to appear in the entrance examinations.” Meenu narrates her ordeal, how they explored every possible option for gaining admission, and how humiliating and frustrating it was for the entire family to be turned away at every door. She has been grappling with depression ever since.
“My life is spoiled due to Article 35A but I am really happy that the future generations will not face the discrimination and prejudice which we had faced for years together,” says Meenu. The historic decision of the Union Government to abolish the Article 35A has changed the destiny of hundreds of Valmiki youth in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, she says.
Due to age factor, Meenu Gill had her first and last chance to appear in the Jammu and Kashmir Combined Services Examination when this discriminatory article was abolished in the year 2019. “I tried my best to qualify for the prestigious exams but couldn’t succeed,” she said.
Today, the victims of Article 35A demand a one-time age relaxation as compensation for years of discrimination Like Meenu Gill, there are scores of Valmiki youth who got only one chance to appear in recruitment tests conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) and Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission.
LIBERATED FROM ‘SLAVERY’
After 63 years of struggle, the Valmikis of J&K were liberated from virtual slavery.
Gharu Bhatti, who was at the forefront in the fight against this glaring injustice, says that the granting of the domicile certificates has liberated the Valmiki community from the decades-long slavery wherein even well qualified youth were debarred from appropriate jobs – except as sweepers.
In the modern world where people speak about equality and parity, the third generation of the Valmiki community was living in virtual slavery because they had no option but to work as sweepers – because that was all they were officially allowed to do.
GENESIS OF DISCRIMINATION
The agony of this community started in 1957 when they were specially called in from Punjab to be employed as Safai Karamcharis. The local Safai Karamcharis had gone on an indefinite strike. The then Wazir-e-Azam (Prime Minister) of J&K, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, convened an emergent Cabinet meeting in which a decision was taken to bring Safai Karmacharis from other states to solve the crisis. (Before 1965, the Chief Minister of J&K was called as ‘Prime Minister’.)
Over 250 families of Valmikis were brought from the Gurdaspur and Amritsar areas of Punjab with a promise that they’ll be given all constitutional rights like other residents of J&K.
The Valmikis from Punjab were promised, by none else than the then Prime Minister of the state, that rules would be relaxed to grant them PRCs, but these promises remained only on paper.
Finally it was in 2019 that after the abrogation of Article 370, the Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) law was abolished and replaced by the new domicile law.
FRAUD THAT WAS ARTICLE 35A
- On May 14, 1954, the President of India issued an order called the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954. It came into effect immediately.Besides other modifications, this presidential order ‘added’ a new “Article 35A” after Article 35 in the Constitution of India. Addition or deletion of an Article amounts to an amendment to the Constitution. And the Constitution can be amended only by Parliament as per procedure laid out in Article 368. But Article 35A was never presented before the Parliament of India!This effectively meant, the President bypassed the amending procedure as laid out in the Constitution in order to add Article 35A.
- Article 35A was an example of the abuse of Article 370. Article 35A was a violation of the basic structure of our Constitution and curbed certain basic rights enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.
- Article 35A was hidden from the public eye, was not included in the main text of the Constitution but added as an appendix.
- The implementation of Article 35A deprived lakhs of Indian citizens of “JUSTICE, social, economic and political” and “EQUALITY of status and of opportunity”. It has also failed to “promote FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation”
