J&K House adjourned indefinitely after ruckus

Srinagar: Both houses of Jammu and Kashmir legislature were on Wednesday adjourned sine die, a week before the scheduled break, after witnessing unprecedented bedlam and fisticuffs over chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti’s, calling those who ask for abrogation of Article 370 as ‘anti national’.

The chief minister had on Monday while upbraiding severely those who are asking for repealing Article 370 said in the State Assembly that the temporary constitutional provision that grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian Union actually represents pluralistic ethos of the State and hence cannot be abrogated. She called those asking for its repeal as “anti national” and while elaborating said that disturbing it would go against the interests of not only the State but entire country.

Her remarks were seen as an oblique censure of her allies in the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological parent, the RSS, which have repeatedly said that abrogation of Article 370 and its upshot including Article 35A  are their “core agenda”.

On Tuesday, the House witnessed ruckus after Speaker Kavinder Gupta while conceding BJP member Rajiv Jasrotia demand expunged the chief minister’s ‘anti national’.

Later he, however, said that he has not expunged anything and that the chief minister will clarify her own statement on the floor of the House.

On Wednesday, as soon as the Speaker occupied his chair, the Opposition members, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, were on their feet asking him what decision has been taken on the chief minister’s “anti-national” remarks.

“You had on your own told the House yesterday (Tuesday) that you will first go through the records of the House before taking a decision on expunging remarks of the Leader of the House and that Leader of the House will herself come and clarify the position,” Mr. Abdullah said, asking the Speaker whether he has gone through the Assembly proceedings and when is the Chief Minister coming to the House to clarify her position.

The Speaker tried to save the situation by saying that Ms. Mufti had in her speech said that there were “hardcore elements” sitting in Kashmir who claim that there will be demographic change in the Valley with the return of Kashmiri Pandits in the proposed separate colonies and that she won’t allow Kashmir to become Afghanistan or Syria. The opposition reacted sharply to the Speaker’s “concealing” the relevant part of the Chief Minister’s statement , describing as “anti-national” the demand by “some forces sitting in New Delhi” that Article 370 of the Constitution should be done away with by getting Section 35-A scrapped.

The opposition members in protest came into the Well of the House, chanting ‘Chief Minister Sahiba jawab do, jawab do.’ Some of them threw copies of the question papers in the air, started banging on the table and even threw chairs on ground. Sensing trouble, Speaker adjourned the House.

Soon the House witnessed an outbreak of fisticuffs between Forest Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh and opposition NC members following his passing some remarks when the latter were leaving the House after the adjournment announced by the Speaker.

Mr. Singh was quickly joined by other BJP members to exchange blows with their counterparts in the opposition. The members threw papers and chairs in the air, resulting into minor injuries to some of them. They were separated by watch and ward staff with great difficulty. When the House reassembled after about half an hour, it again witnessed pandemonium, forcing the Speaker to adjourn it sine die.

More or less similar situation was witnessed in the Legislative Council with NC and Congress members staging noisy protests and turning tables upside down and flinging chairs towards the Treasury benches. This was followed by entire opposition trooping in the Well of the House, chanting slogans against the PDP-BJP government. Amid violence, the Chairman Haji Anayat Ali adjourned the House. Later he and also the Assembly Speaker in separate statements issued in winter capital Jammu where the bicameral legislature was in its budget session said that they had adjourned the respective houses sine die after exercising powers conferred on them under rule 16 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business.