Ruckus in Jammu & Kashmir Assembly again; BJP MLAs marshalled out

Ruckus prevailed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for the third day on Friday (November 8) as BJP members protested over the special status resolution, leading the speaker to marshal out 12 Opposition MLAs and Langate legislator Sheikh Khurshid.

As the House met for the day, BJP MLAs raised slogans like 'Pakistani agenda nahi chalega'. BJP MLAs also jumped into the well of the House following which Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather directed that they be marshalled out. Soon after they were evicted, 11 other BJP MLAs walked out of the House in protest. 

The House has been witnessing uproar from the last two days as BJP MLAs protested vociferously after the passage of the resolution.

Also read: MLAs come to blows in J-K Assembly over special status resolution

Earlier, Awami Ittehad Party MLA Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh, brother of Baramulla Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, was marshalled out from the House. The BJP staged a walkout after several members of the party were marshalled out following pandemonium in the House.

The Assembly was on Thursday adjourned for the day following a clash between BJP MLAs and marshals, with BJP members protesting a resolution to restore the former state's special status for the second consecutive day.

The discord began when a new resolution, advocating for the reinstatement of Articles 370 and 35A, was introduced by the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC). The BJP, opposing the resolution, labelled it “illegal”, demanding it be withdrawn. Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather rejected this demand, saying that the House itself, not the Speaker, held the authority to reverse any resolution passed.

Darkest day in J&K's democracy: LoP

Resenting the developments over the last three days, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said, "This is the darkest day in J&K's democracy. For the last 3 days, the speaker - who is believed to be the custodian of the House, has been implementing marshal law, behaving as the speaker of the National Conference. They want to suppress the voice of the opposition.”

“We believe that all these actions are unlawful, undemocratic and unconstitutional. The resolution (to restore Article 370) was drafted by the speaker himself. We want them to take it back. Article 370 is a history - it can't be debated now... We wanted to have a debate - about the way our MLAs were manhandled by the marshals at the direction of the speaker, they did this today as well. We will now sit here on protest to run a parallel assembly which is against the speaker,” he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary had moved the resolution on Tuesday that said: "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."

It said the Assembly calls upon the Centre to initiate talks with elected representatives from the region for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and constitutional guarantees, and to work out constitutional mechanisms for the same.

(With agency inputs)