For the third day, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly witnessed chaos over the contentious resolution seeking restoration of the State’s special status. The resolution aims to reinstate Jammu and Kashmir’s special position and initiate dialogue with its people.
The maiden Assembly session, which was convened after a 6-year hiatus, has been dominated by heated exchanges and protests, spurring the Speaker to adjourn the session multiple times in the last three days.
On Friday, the BJP legislators attempted to surge into the well of the House to protest against the resolution, which was passed by the Assembly on Wednesday with a majority vote.
As the Speaker was unable to cut through the cacophony, he ordered the unruly to be marshalled out. Nearly a dozen of them were removed out of the House, while the others staged a walk-out.
Parallel Assembly
In the lawns of the Assembly, the expelled legislators most of whom belonged to the BJP held a parallel session with Sham Lal Sharma assuming the role of the Speaker.
Terming their removal as “unfortunate”, the members said that they had not expected such a treatment from the Speaker.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma told reporters that the parallel Assembly should not be dismissed lightly. “Should the government’s conduct not change, we will run a parallel government,” he said.
Sharma accused the National Conference of pursuing a “separatist agenda” by moving a resolution in the House.
He said that the special status was not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution.
“I will quit politics, if Omar Abdullah shows me a single place where it is enshrined in the Constitution,” Sharma said.
On Thursday, the BJP and the NC legislators clashed over the resolution with the former calling for its annulment.
After the House passed resolution on restoring the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on November 6, the three PDP legislators, sole MLAs of the People’s Conference and the Awami Itihad Party on Thursday termed it as ambiguous.
They argued that there had not been a succinct mention of Article 370 and 35 A in the resolution. Moreover, it had not criticised the August 5 move had not been criticised
The legislators introduced a new resolution in the House, which was not accepted by the Speaker.