Both houses of the Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) Assembly on Tuesday witnessed unruly scenes as members of the opposition raised slogans against the Speaker of the Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council for “lowering sanctity”.
The issue arose after the Speaker and the Chairman attended a dinner meeting hosted by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reportedly to chalk out the floor strategy of the ruling PDP-BJP government during the current budget session.
Members raised slogans and occupied the Well of the respective houses accusing the Speaker and Chairman of having lowered dignity of their offices by attending a political meeting.
Proceedings of the two houses remained disrupted for quite some time until the Speaker Kavinder Gupta and the Chairman Haji Anayat Ali said that in future they will not attend such functions.
As the Assembly and the Council met for the question hour in the morning, all opposition members raised the issue of Gupta and Ali attending the dinner meeting hosted by Mehbooba. National Conference (NC) and Congress members staged a walkout from the Council on the issue.
Leader of Congress Legislative Party, Nawang Rigzin Jora said in the Assembly, “You (Speaker) are not the Speaker of the government or the BJP but of the entire House. You should not have taken part in the meeting of the coalition government. We want your reply.” He was seconded by CPM MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami who said that the sanctity of the house cannot be compromised.
NC MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar said, “It is unprecedented. This has not happened in the past.”
After over half-an-hour of protests and sloganeering, the Speaker replied to the opposition and said that he had taken part in the dinner and if it was wrong, he would not repeat it.
Engineer Rasheed (Independent) was marshaled out of the Assembly when he started walking into the Well of the house and demanding construction of tunnels in Gurez and Karnak areas for connectivity during winters.
While taking part in the debate on the Governor’s address, Omar Abdullah, Leader of the Opposition, lambasted the government for celebrating killing of more than 200 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The need was to understand that what has led to creation of more militants in the valley.
Taking dig at the Chief Minister for taking credit for projects initiated by previous governments, Omar Abdullah said that when it comes to mess you blame previous governments, but you don’t budge taking credit for the projects started by previous governments.
“I want to ask Mehbooba Mufti what will she leave for next government,” said Omar, adding, “Mufti Sayeed received legacy from Dr Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad received some legacy also from Farooq Abdullah and even I received some legacy from Azad, but what will you give to the next government.”
Questioning the “actual position” of centrally appointed representative of Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma, Omar Abdullah said that there is no clarity in his mandate.
“We don’t know who he is? Is he interlocutor or special representative? The job of the representative should be to discuss major issues with actual stakeholders, but as said, he is not clear with his mandate.
Usman Majeed (Congress) urged the government to withdraw cases against the four cricketers of Bandipura for singing the National Anthem of Pakistan and sought apology on their behalf.
Defending the cricketers, Engineer Rasheed (Independent) said “If it is offence to sing Pakistan’s national anthem then a case should be filed against Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for seeking votes in the name of Pakistan.” Mehbooba’s father and the then Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed immediately after taking oath of office had thanked Pakistan for letting peaceful elections happen in J-K, Rasheed told media persons outside the Assembly.