The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Friday for the third consecutive day, as tensions rose over a resolution calling for the restoration of Article 370. The conflict erupted when People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA from Kupwara unfurled a banner advocating for Article 370’s reinstatement, sparking a sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in the House.
The BJP MLAs immediately condemned the display, raising slogans and clashing with fellow legislators, including Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) MLA Sheikh Khursheed, who joined in displaying support for the resolution. Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather eventually ordered BJP members and Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh to be escorted out by marshals, escalating tensions.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma of the BJP described the day as “the darkest in J&K’s democracy.” Sharma criticized the Speaker, accusing him of partiality toward the National Conference and of stifling opposition voices. “For the past three days, the Speaker, who is supposed to be the custodian of the House, has imposed a marshal law and is suppressing the opposition,” Sharma sad. He insisted that the assembly should not deliberate on Article 370, which he argued was now a matter decided by the Parliament and the Supreme Court.
After BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the House, Sharma said that they (the opposition) would run a parallel assembly against the speaker outside the House.
He said, “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. This assembly is not bigger than the Parliament and the Supreme Court. 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.”
Earlier in the week, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary proposed the resolution to restore Article 370, which was met with immediate objections from Sharma and other BJP members. The Assembly session, which commenced on November 4, saw the introduction of the resolution on restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. By Wednesday, the resolution passed by a voice vote with all parties, except the BJP, in favor.
Waheed Para, PDP MLA representing Pulwama, introduced the resolution, sparking strong opposition from BJP lawmakers. Although the resolution passed, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dismissed it as symbolic, suggesting it was “for the cameras” rather than substantive change. Abdullah criticized the lack of collaboration with his party, the National Conference, on this issue.
Notably, the restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood as well as the implementation of the autonomy resolution was one of the main promises made by the National Conference in its manifesto for the Jammu-Kashmir elections.
The assembly’s current session, concluding today, marks the first since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. In the recent elections, the National Conference-Congress alliance secured 49 seats out of 90, while the BJP won 29 seats. Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on September 16, marking his return to leadership in the newly formed J&K Assembly.
(ani)