J&K Legislative Assembly witnesses ruckus over Abrogation of Article 370

Chaos and partial adjournments mark day one of Assembly Session ahead of Lieutenant Governor’s address

The newly elected members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly occupied their seats on the treasury and opposition benches on Monday, after a gap of more than six long years.

Meanwhile, the floor of the House witnessed chaotic scenes and partial adjournments on day one of the session, ahead of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s arrival to address the first sitting of the Legislative Assembly.

Ruckus started in the house immediately after the Peoples Democratic Party member (PDP) moved a resolution against the revocation of Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The PDP member Waheed Ur Rehman Parra submitted a private members resolution immediately after the election of Abdul Rahim Rather as speaker.

“I congratulate you for being elected as the speaker of the House. We will learn a lot from your experience. Today, I have a resolution on behalf of my party that I want to submit before you. The resolution calls for the restoration of Article 370,” Para said.

His move triggered a massive ruckus in the House with BJP MLAs urging the Speaker to trash the resolution forthwith. Speaker Rather while trying to calm down the tempers of BJP Members stated, “This is my domain, let me examine this, and accordingly I will decide on the resolution,” Rather said while pacifying the opposition camp

The 28 BJP legislators, however, refused to sit and continued to oppose the PDP MLAs’ move. BJP LoP Sunil Sharma said: “This is not done on the first day, this kind of stuff is introduced in this House.”

The Speaker Rather repeated: “I have not seen this copy yet. Let me go through it and examine it. If you (BJP) have decided not to allow this house to run, then I can’t say anything.”

The House continued to witness an uproar as BJP MLAS refused to sit on their chairs and demanded the resolution brought by MLA Para be trashed. In his attempt to pacify the opposition, the Speaker asked LoP Sharma to remain calm. “I will give you time to discuss the issue. I haven’t myself gone through what has been suggested by the MLA (Para),” he said.

Intervening, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he wasn’t supposed to talk politics today. “I thought it would be an election about Speaker and obituary references. This Assembly reflects the aspirations of J&K people. The reality is that the majority of people haven’t accepted what was done on August 5, 2019. I believe this is an attempt to earn fame and nothing else. Treasury benches will decide and bring the resolution on this issue after consultations with the Speaker. The Speaker adjourned the house till Governor’s address,” Omar said

Aspirations for the return of statehood remain strong: LG Sinha

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said the high voter turnout in the Assembly polls reflected the enduring faith of the people in the democratic process, but the aspiration for the return to statehood remains strong.

In his maiden address to the first-ever Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of J&K, he said, “We gather here after the successful culmination of elections after a decade”.

Sinha said the high turnout particularly in regions that traditionally could not participate fully because of separatist sentiments was very encouraging.

The LG, however, said the aspiration for the return to statehood in J-K remains strong.
“PM Modi has reiterated the commitment to the restoration of J-K’s statehood at the earliest. My government will make efforts for the restoration of the statehood, and create an enabling atmosphere for development,” Sinha said.

He said the council of ministers has recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for the restoration of statehood. It reflects the collective will and all stakeholders have to work together as one team to achieve that.

Sinha said the people have high hopes for the government and all stakeholders should extend full support to the government to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the people.
He said the government is fully committed to fulfilling its promises for further political empowerment of the people.

“My government is committed to providing 200 units per household. The modalities are being worked out. We are exploiting the hydel electric resources, and J-K will be self-sufficient in electricity by the year 2026,” he added.

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