SRINAGAR — The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly descended into chaos on Monday as BJP members protesting a resolution seeking urgent restoration of statehood jumped into the well of the House, tore business papers and conducted mock proceedings.
This came after the opposition party moved a motion seeking the removal of Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather for allowing the resolution moved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday in contravention of rules.
The BJP said the reference to autonomy and special status in the resolution was an insult to the Constitution and that the party would not allow a discussion on it or its passage in the House.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said the members of the assembly had been elected to represent the people.
“J&K is a sensitive state and we have enemies around. They are hatching conspiracies. We don’t want to do opposition for the sake of opposition. We want that statehood be restored. It is our agenda. But the kind of resolution they have brought, it is in violation of the Constitution and is unacceptable,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chaudhary asked what happened to the Centre’s promise of restoring J&K’s statehood.
“Are we going to give up statehood? What is wrong with the resolution for statehood? The home minister has promised on the floor of the Parliament that statehood will be restored. They promised before the highest court of the country. What happened to those promises? Two years have passed since,” he said.
Chaudhary then urged Speaker Rather to put the motion moved against him by the BJP to vote.
“Why wait for 14 days?” he said, referring to Rather citing a rule that states that a motion for the removal of the speaker can only be taken up 14 days after its submission.
BJP members then jumped into the well of the House.
Some party MLAs tore the business papers of the House and raised slogans like “Desh drohiyon ka agenda nahi chalega, nahi chalega (Agenda of anti-nationals will not be tolerated)”; “Samvidhan se mazak, band karo (Stop making a mockery of the Constitution)”; and “Samvidhan ki hatya band karo (Stop the murder of the Constitution)”.
BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma then began conducting mock proceedings in the well of the House. All party MLAs sat on the floor during the mock proceedings.
Minister Sakina Ittoo hit out at the BJP members, saying they were “only doing drama for galleries”. — (PTI)