West Pak refugees, Valmikis cast first-time votes in Jammu

Jammu, Oct 1: Mangal Singh wore a smile of fulfilment as he showed up at a polling station on Tuesday morning in Jammu's Bhor Pind to cast his vote.

“For us, it is a historic moment,” said Singh as he walked out of the polling booth, displaying an indelible mark on his finger.

Singh, whose parents fled Sialkot, Pakistan, during the bedlam of the India subcontinent’s 1947 partition, was among thousands who were denied voting rights in Jammu and Kashmir due to its special constitutional status.

However, on August 5, 2019, the Central government abrogated Articles 370 and 35-A, enabling them to cast their ballots in the assembly polls.

According to official data, a total of 5764 families migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 and mostly settled in different parts of Jammu region.

The migrants were mostly from the subaltern class and did menial jobs in brick kilns and at construction sites.

“We have suffered immensely. Our children were unable to secure admission in state-run professional colleges,” Singh said.

Expressing elation, he said that their long-awaited political integration into the state had finally taken place.

“It was after so many decades that we shed the refugee label,” he said.

Ninety-year-old Sant Ram said that his long-standing dream of voting in the assembly polls was fulfilled before his death.

In the R S Pura area, the community members danced to the beats of drums, filling the air with a sense of celebration as they cast their ballots.

Similarly, a wave of euphoria was witnessed among the members of the Valmiki community.

The community, which was brought to the region from Punjab in 1957, were also unable to vote in the assembly polls.

Akshay, a young member of the community, said that they always felt like stateless citizens.

“Now the voting rights have given us a sense of belonging,” he said.

Akshay said that it was crucial for the socio-economic upliftment of the community.