Jammu: With the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the six-decade-long battle of Valmiki community for the citizenship rights came to an end as Valmikis got the domicile certificates as soon as the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked.
Sixty-three years after their arrival in Jammu and Kashmir as “sanitary workers” on the request of the then J&K government, members of Valmiki community finally got a hope of a bright future for their children as they were given citizenship rights at par with other communities residing in the Union Territory four years ago.
“The revocation of provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution has given a new lease of life to Valmiki community members who live on the land that was allocated to their ancestors when they shifted to Jammu from Punjab’s Gurdaspur district on the invitation of the erstwhile State government in 1957,” said Gharu Bhatti, President Valmiki Samaj Sabha.
“We were living in J&K as unwanted citizens. Our wish to become a citizen of Jammu and Kashmir with all the rights has come true after the abrogation of Article 370. Our children can now live with honour and dignity in this land where their ancestors served. It has a positive impact on our children as they can now avail good education as well as compete for government jobs,” Bhatti added.
Another Valmiki community member Eklavya said, “The community members are now eligible to get a right to life, right to vote, right to government jobs, right to professional colleges and reservation under SC category for which a bill has been moved in the current session of the Parliament.”
“Our ancestors had came to Jammu on the invitation of the then State government in 1957 to work as sanitary workers in the Jammu municipality. Our community members now live in one of the many Valmiki colonies such as Christian Colony, Bakshi Nagar, Dogra Hall, Resham Ghar, Valmiki Colony in Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu city,” he added.
Meena Gill, who is pursing Law, said, “Despite owning land in Jammu and having lived there for all our lives, we were deprived of other rights, including the right to vote, right to higher education, right to get State scholarship, right to government jobs.”
“Scrapping of Article 370 was like a dream come true for us and we thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for providing us with an opportunity to prosper as a community,” she added.
”Now we too can lead a dignified life. All these years we had been treated like slaves. We were denied basic constitutional and fundamental rights,” said Ekta Mattoo, a member of the Valmiki community.
“Even after completing our education, a Safai Karamchari was the only job we were entitled to and that too only in Jammu Municipal Corporation as we were not allowed to apply for a job in other government departments. Now with a domicile certificate in hand, like any other citizen of Jammu and Kashmir, members of our community can apply for a government job,” she added.
