Srinagar: Opposition BJP on Friday held a mock session in the lawns of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex after half of its members were marshalled out while the other half staged a walk out of the House to protest against the special status resolution.
The BJP MLAs assembled in the assembly lawns and staged a mock assembly in which they described the House resolution on restoration of special status as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
BJP leaders said the mock assembly was to protest against the National Conference (NC) which has “hijacked the House”.
“The House is hijacked by the NC. We won’t allow this to happen. A Constitutional crisis has been brought about by the NC. They have violated the rules,” BJP MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia said.
Earlier in the day, 12 BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the House after they protested against the resolution while 11 party MLAs later walked out of the House.
There are 28 BJP MLAs in the House whose strength is 88 at present.
The BJP also said that it will run a parallel government in Jammu and Kashmir if Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather continues with his behaviour that “challenges sovereignty and integrity” of the country.
“We had a parallel assembly outside when the Speaker had our MLAs marshalled out. We raised the issues of our areas and the media covered it.
“The Speaker should not take this parallel assembly lightly. If your behaviour challenges Indian integrity and sovereignty, we will run a parallel government and this is my warning to them,” Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma said the way the Speaker has conducted the Assembly is condemnable.
“We condemn it. This will be the darkest day in the history of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. The Assembly was constituted by the people with the hope that their problems regarding water, electricity, hospital and education will be solved.
“However, the Speaker has functioned as an agent of a particular party and performed an unconstitutional and illegal act in an undemocratic way,” Sharma said.
He said all the MLAs had come to the House with the problems of their areas but “the separatist mindset of the ruling NC (National Conference) has lowered the dignity of the House by bringing the resolution”.
“The unfortunate part is that the Speaker is saying the demand for special status is a demand for restoration of Article 370. He is acting like a spokesman of the National Conference,” Sharma added.
He said Article 370 was removed by the “highest temple of democracy” in the country and it was settled by the Supreme Court.
“Article 370 is now history. They are comparing Article 370 with a word like special status which does not even exist in the Constitution.
“I challenge (chief minister) Omar Abdullah that if the word special status with regard to Jammu and Kashmir is found anywhere in the Constitution, I will retire from politics,” he said.
The BJP leader said the NC wants to start street violence here in the name of special status.
“Under the special status, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to migrate, Asiya Neelofar was murdered, Tufail Mattoo was murdered and Haji Yousuf was killed in the house of the chief minister. They want this (kind of) special status back,” he said.
