The mouthpiece of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala, Deshabhimani, carried an article on June 29, opposing the move to grant domicile to Dalits in Kashmir. They even went on to use the term ‘outsiders’ and ‘sweepers’ to address the Valmikis.
“The Valmiki community who were brought in from Punjab years ago as sweepers started receiving the certificates.” the article reads in Malayalam.
It said “Of the 33000 applications, only 720 were received from Kashmir while the rest came from Jammu. This move will upset the demography of J&K.”
The article also goes on to claim that the new domicile rules is a move by the RSS ‘to end the Muslim population majority in the state’.
Islamists as well as communist circles in Jammu and Kashmir have opposed issuing domicile certificates claiming that it will bring demographic change. Domicile certificates are issued under Jammu and Kashmir Grant Domicile Certificate (Production) Rules, 2020, to the residents who are living there for more than 15 years. It also allows religiously persecuted people from POK and Pakistan after 1947 and settled in J&K to obtain domicile.
August 5, 2019, when the articles 370 and 35A were removed from the constitution, the air is being created that Hindus from other parts of India will migrate and surpass the number of Kashmiri Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir. With the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, the provisions that prevented Dalits from accessing equal opportunities and Kashmiri woman to hold property are gone. Many Gorkhas and Dalit community people suffered due to inequalities by the earlier provisions. They were not eligible for government jobs or college admissions. \
Now refugees from Pakistan and PoK who have settled in J & K are also eligible for getting domicile certificate that will give them equal treatment.
In 2008, 100 acres of land was sought by the Government of India for building temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu Pilgrims going to Amarnath. The Kashmiri separatists started a big stir against this step, citing the articles 370 and 35A. Thus the atmosphere of separatism that was constantly created and nurtured had became a hurdle in integrating Kashmir with the rest of the county.
As of 27th June 2020, around 25000 thousand, out of 33157 who had applied for domicile in Jammu and Kashmir, were granted domicile in the Union Territory.