Day after Dr. Abdullah opposed students’ protest, NC legislator says ‘should have been allowed’

A day after National Conference (NC) president Dr. Farooq Abdullah defended the crackdown on open merit candidates’ sit-in and political leaders, NC leader and legislator Tanvir Sadiq on Monday (December 29, 2025) said the students should have been allowed to hold a protest over the reservation issue.

“Students should have been allowed to peacefully protest. If they can protest outside the Chief Minister’s residence, why can’t they be allowed to protest elsewhere?” Mr. Sadiq said.

Mr. Sadiq’s statement came as a U-turn on the stand taken by Dr. Abdullah, who questioned the intention of the leaders who wanted to join protests in Srinagar on Sunday. 

The open merit students in Kashmir cancelled their protest in Srinagar over the rationalisation of reservation quota to 50% for open merit students in J&K. However, several leaders were placed under house arrest including NC rebel Member of Parliament (MP) Aga Syed Ruhullah.

Meanwhile, NC Rajya Sabha member Chaudhary Muhammad Ramzan played down the growing differences within the NC, especially between CM Omar Abdullah and MP Ruhullah.  

“Internal debate should not be seen as disloyalty. Aga and the CM have different approaches to solving issues. This difference in method does not mean he (Aga) is against the NC. If he were against the party, he would have resigned,” Mr. Ramzan said.

He said a Cabinet Sub-Committee already submitted its report to the Lok Bhavan under Supreme Court guidelines. “Once signed, a new reservation policy will be implemented,” he added.

Under the current policy, 20% seats are reserved for STs, 8% for Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10% for Reserved Backward Areas (RBAs), 8% for OBCs, 4% under the Local Area Candidates/ Integrated Borders category, 10% Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and 10% in the Children of Defence Personnel/ Sports/CDP/PWD quota. Earlier, J&K had only 10% reservation for STs but was changed by the L-G administration last year.