Srinagar- Opposition BJP on Friday held a mock session in the lawns of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after half of its members were marshalled out while the other half staged a walk out of the House to protest against the special status resolution.
The BJP MLAs assembled in the assembly lawns and staged a mock assembly in which they described the House resolution on 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.
The BJP said that it will run a parallel government in Jammu and Kashmir if Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather continues with his behaviour that “challenges sovereignty and integrity” of the country.
“We had a parallel assembly outside when the Speaker had our MLAs marshalled out. We raised the issues of our areas and the media covered it.
“The Speaker should not take this parallel assembly lightly. If your behaviour challenges Indian integrity and sovereignty, we will run a parallel government and this is my warning to them,” Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma said the way the Speaker has conducted the Assembly is condemnable.
“We condemn it. This will be the darkest day in the history of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. The Assembly was constituted by the people with the hope that their problems regarding water, electricity, hospital and education will be solved.
“However, the Speaker has functioned as an agent of a particular party and performed an unconstitutional and illegal act in an undemocratic way,” Sharma said.
He said all the MLAs had come to the House with the problems of their areas but “the separatist mindset of the ruling NC (National Conference) has lowered the dignity of the House by bringing the resolution”.
“The unfortunate part is that the Speaker is saying the demand for special status is a demand for restoration of Article 370. He is acting like a spokesman of the National Conference,” Sharma added.
He said Article 370 was removed by the highest temple of democracy in the country and it was settled by the Supreme Court.
“Article 370 is now history. They are comparing Article 370 with a word like special status which does not even exist in the Constitution.
“I challenge (chief minister) Omar Abdullah that if the word special status with regard to Jammu and Kashmir is found anywhere in the Constitution, I will retire from politics,” he said.
The BJP leader said the NC wants to start street violence here in the name of special status.
“Under the special status, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to migrate, Asiya Neelofar was murdered, Tufail Mattoo was murdered and Haji Yousuf was killed in the house of the chief minister. They want this (kind of) special status back,” he said. (PTI)
Privilege Motion Moved Against 6 BJP MLAs
Earlier on Friday NC MLA Sajjad Shaheen moved a privilege motion in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly against six BJP members, including Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, for allegedly making derogatory remarks.
This was announced by Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather at the conclusion of a five-day Assembly session here.
Besides the leader of opposition, the others named in the privilege motion are Sham Lal Sharma, Satish Kumar Sharma, R S Pathania, Vikram Randhawa and Rajiv Jasrotia.
The speaker said he has received another breach of privilege motion from NC MLA Nazir Ahmad Khan Gurezi.
The speaker, however, did not mention the name of the person against whom the motion has been submitted.
“In both cases, I will examine and take appropriate action as per rules,” he said.
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