SRINAGAR — Following the pandemonium in the J&K Assembly on Wednesday by the BJP MLAs over the passing of a resolution to restore Article 370, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather adjourned the House till Thursday.
As the BJP MLAs refused to maintain calm and allow the House to continue, a visibly distrusted Speaker told them to bring forth a no-confidence motion against him if the BJP was not satisfied with his conducting of the proceedings.
As heated exchanges continued inside the Assembly, senior BJP leader Sham Lal Choudhary called the deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary to have become the ‘Jaichand of Jammu’ by piloting the resolution for restoration of Article 370.
The Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution for the restoration of Article 370.
The resolution was moved by the deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and NC leader and minister Sakina Masood seconded the move. The resolution was moved by the government on the third day of the Assembly’s current session.
BJP leader Sunil Sharma, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, resented the move strongly holding that when the business of the House was a debate on the Lt Governor’s address, how could the government move such a resolution?
The resolution moved by the government said, “This Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and expresses concern over the unilateral removal.
“This Assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of J&K for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out the constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions,” it said.
“This Assembly emphasises that any process for restoration must safeguard both national unity and the legitimate aspirations of the people of J&K,” the resolution read.
The move evoked strong opposition and uproar from BJP leader Sunil Sharma, who said amid din in the House, “When business was about discussion on Lt Governor’s address, how this resolution could be moved,” he said.
Independent MLAs Sheikh Khurshid Ahmed, Shabir Ahmad, and Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC), CPI (M) MLA, Tusuf Tarigami and three MLAs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supported the resolution.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather put the motion to vote and it was passed by the majority of the House.
Initially, the Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes after the chaos continued in the Assembly.
The passing of the resolution seeking restoration of statehood to J&K by the ruling National Conference (NC) would constitutionally have little impact, but at the political level, the passing of the resolution has brought the J&K government into direct confrontation with the Centre.
Article 370 and 35A were abrogated by the Parliament on August 5, 2019, and the power of the Parliament to do so was upheld by a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. –IANS
