The five-day-long maiden session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly ended on a stormy note on Friday.
The main opposition, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) staged a walkout from the House in the first half of the session after some of its members were marshaled out of the house again while they were protesting against the passage of a resolution over the special status.
As the house reconvened on Friday it witnessed acrimonious scenes for the third day in succession. A few members from the PDP and Peoples Conference attempted to display a banner in the house while BJP MLAs raised slogans like ‘Pakistani agenda nahi chalega’. As chaos prevailed some of the BJP MLAs jumped into the well of the House following which Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather directed that they be marshalled out.
Soon after they were evicted, other BJP MLAs walked out of the House in protest. The house proceedings went on smoothly as other members participated in the discussion on the Lieutenant Governor’s address. Later, BJP legislators held a mock session on the lawns of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Speaking one by one the BJP legislators described the House resolution on the restoration of special status as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
BJP leaders said the mock assembly was to protest against the National Conference which had “hijacked the House”.
“The House is hijacked by the NC. We won’t allow this to happen. A constitutional crisis has been brought about by the NC. They have violated the rules,” BJP MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia said. In the second half of the day, NC president Farooq Abdullah attended the Assembly proceedings from the Speaker’s gallery.
“I see a very prominent personality Dr Farooq Abdullah in the Speaker’s gallery. I request all members to join me in welcoming him,” Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather said. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday expressed disappointment over the recent criticism of his party’s resolution in the Legislative Assembly, stating that those who had previously congratulated and supported him for bringing Article 370 resolution had now started accusing the NC of compromising.
In an address to the assembly, Abdullah said that bringing any resolution that would never be accepted in Parliament was foolish. He stated that such resolutions should instead force Parliament to reconsider the issue.
Referring to the growing controversy surrounding the resolution, Abdullah urged young political leaders to be cautious of the influence of social media platforms, especially WhatsApp and Facebook.
