The bonhomie between the leadership of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which was on full display during the recently held Rajya Sabha polls, ended abruptly after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday rejected a private member’s Bill moved by PDP MLA Waheed ur Rehman Para that sought recognition of proprietary rights over state and Kacharai lands, saying the Government cannot legalise illegal occupation of State property.
Speaking in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Omar Abdullah asked Para to withdraw the bill, stating that such a move would go against existing laws and land regulations. “We cannot legalise illegal occupation of state land,” the Chief Minister said.
“On the surface, it looks easy. If someone has constructed a house on government land, give the land to him. Last time, the government made a scheme to convert leasehold into freehold, which was known as Roshni (scheme). The aim was to grant freehold to those who had leasehold before militancy. The revenue generated would have been used for power generation,” Abdullah said.
He said the then PDP-Congress coalition Government removed the pre-militancy clause.
“There was a controversy and there was talk of ‘land jehad’ and whatnot. It went to court, and we could not defend it there. This proposal of the MLA is beyond the Roshni scheme. The bill does not put a cut-off timeline. We cannot do this. There is a provision of granting land to the landless people under PMAY. So, I request the member to withdraw the bill,” the CM said.
However, PDP legislator Waheed ur Rehman Para refused to withdraw the bill, saying the government was rejecting it for political reasons.
“You are rejecting it for your own policies. BJP calls it land jihad, don’t be afraid of them,” Para told the House. The exchange led to a brief verbal duel between the treasury and opposition benches. Para argued that the Bill aimed to provide relief to people who have been living or cultivating on such lands for decades, while the government maintained that legal procedures could not be bypassed.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the issue of land rights needs to be dealt with through lawful means and that the government would not take any step that could encourage encroachment on state property.
Referring to Para’s remarks that the bill would also benefit the chief minister’s relatives, Abdullah said, “My relatives were not illegal occupants, they had a lease which was violated (by the other side)”.
“I would not bring such a bill even for my relatives. Then you bring religion and region into it,” he said, opposing the introduction of the bill.
After Para refused to withdraw the bill, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather put it to a vote, but it received the support of only three members. The bill was defeated by a voice vote.
Outside the house, the war of words flared on the social media platforms. In a post on X, Waheed Para wrote, “Calling state subjects living on state land ‘land grabbers’ is a dangerous narrative that endorses demolitions.
The J&K Regularisation and Recognition of Property Rights Bill 2025 was meant to protect people, not vilify them. @CM_JnK could’ve defended his stance with better judgment and vocabulary”.
In response, Spokesman of the National Conference and MLA Tanvir Sadiq clarified,” There are two bills. And the people who are misleading the people of J&K need to clarify this. One is the bill moved by Waheed Para, under which anyone from any part of this country can come here, put up a tent anywhere, and claim that the land is theirs. This was the bill that we rejected, saying that if someone is an illegal land grabber and takes the land, then they have no rights. But these people are linking it to our bill, which concerns land leasing... My bill, the Land Grants Act, is different from the one they brought today. They are saying that if someone grabs land, then give them land too. Why? We want to give it to those who are poor and do not have land... It has become a habit of the PDP to mislead people, to please their friends from Nagpur, and they did the same thing today... Whatever LoP (Sunil Kumar Sharma) and Waheed Para say, they are getting their dictation from one place. LoP knows how to mislead people...”