Jammu and Kashmir Assembly proceedings adjourned for the day amid uproar over resolution on special status

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday amidst uproar after the House passed a resolution seeking a dialogue between the Centre and elected representatives for restoration of special status of the erstwhile state.

Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather adjourned the House till Thursday as ruckus continued in the assembly over the resolution.

After the House passed the resolution through voice vote, the assembly witnessed noisy scenes as the BJP members stormed its well to protest the resolution.

The Speaker had first adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.

However, as soon as the House met again, the BJP members continued with their protest and raised slogans against the Speaker.

BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition, Sunil Sharma, said, "We have reports that you (Speaker) called a meeting of ministers yesterday and drafted the resolution yourself".

However, Rather told the protesting BJP members to take their seats, saying "enough is enough".

Amidst the din, the Speaker then adjourned the proceedings again for an hour.

Even as the House met again at 12:20 pm, the ruckus continued, with the BJP members raising slogans "Go back Go back, Speaker go back", and "take back illegal resolution".

The Speaker repeatedly asked the BJP MLAs to take their seats, saying, "this does not behove you".

The NC members also took to their feet and both the sides hurled barbs at each other.

"If you don't have confidence in me, bring a no confidence motion," the Speaker dared the BJP members, and adjourned the House till Thursday.

Earlier, amidst an uproar, the assembly passed the resolution through voice vote, prompting protests by BJP members.

J-K Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary moved the resolution for restoring the special status of J-K, which was revoked by the Centre on August 5, 2019.

"That This Legislative Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture, and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal," the resolution moved by Choudhary said.

It said this Assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to workout constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions.

"This Assembly emphasises that any process for restoration must safeguard both national unity and the legitimate aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.," the resolution added.

However, the BJP members, opposed the resolution, saying it was not part of the listed business.

"We reject the resolution. The Business given to us was that the discussion is on the Lieutenant governor's address," Sharma said.

The members of the PDP, Peoples' Conference and CPI(M) also supported the resolution during the voice vote.