Union Minister Farooq Abdullah was cornered by the principal Opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the floor of the State Assembly on Monday over his alleged remarks that Kashmiris are ‘power thieves’. The PDP members had staged a walk-out also.
Despite issuing a strong statement to the media on Sunday, PDP legislators created ruckus in the State Assembly and demanded an ‘unconditional’ apology from Abdullah. As the House witnessed uproarious scenes and members of the treasury benches exchanged barbs with those sitting on the Opposition benches, the Speaker tried his level best to pacify the members but failed to restore order in the House during the Question Hour.
As PDP legislators protested standing in the Well of the House, the State Government made desperate efforts to resolve the situation and clarified that no such statement was made by the National Conference president against Kashmiri people. Not enthused with the reply the PDP legislators led by Mehbooba Mufti staged walkout from the House. Referring to the media reports, the PDP legislators outside the Assembly alleged that the controversial remarks were made by Abdullah in Delhi while commenting on the poor State of energy in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Kashmiri chor nahi, mahachor hai” (Kashmiris are not just thieves but the biggest thieves), the Minister had said. Meanwhile, Farooq Abdullah present here to attend the inauguration ceremony of Super Specialty Hospital in Jammu refuted media reports and clarified that he had not issued any statement aimed at insulting the people of Kashmir.
Farooq said, “Two days ago while speaking on power situation, I had spoken about power pilferage, but I didn’t say anything like ‘We Kashmiris are maha chor’. Of course, the biggest power operations loss is in Jammu and Kashmir. I have been saying this all the time.” He alleged that since the elections were near, “a newspaper tried to create misunderstanding in the minds of the people by publishing this”. On PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti’s demand for apology, he said, it was Mufti who should apologise for spreading lies.