J&K assembly adjourned due to ruckus over Waqf Act

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was adjourned for half an hour on Tuesday following ruckus by National Conference (NC), Congress, and PDP members over the disallowance of adjournment of the business to discuss the Waqf (Amendment) Act. This is the second consecutive day on which the treasury benches did not allow the House to function.

As the House assembled for the day, NC members, led by Salman Sagar, and Peoples Conference member Sajjad Gani Lone raised the issue of adjourning the budget session to discuss the Waqf Act in the House. The NC MLAs and members of Kashmir-based opposition parties accused each other of being in cahoots with the BJP. While NC MLAs sought a discussion on the adjournment motion brought by them on the Waqf Act, members of Kashmir-based opposition parties were seeking a resolution against it.

Amid the ruckus, PDP MLA Waheed Parra stormed near the well of the House and demanded that the resolution brought by them should be passed. When Parra was vociferously pressing for passage of the resolution, NC’s Abul Majid Larmi accused him of being an RSS agent.

This led to a verbal duel between NC and Kashmir-based opposition legislators.

Amid the commotion, Parra tried to advance towards the well but Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather ordered the marshals to evict him and the order was complied with.

While marshals were jostling with Parra, People’s Conference MLA, Sajjad Lone tried to rescue him but his efforts went in vain. Lone then traded barbs with the NC MLAs.

“You are doing theatrics. It is ironical that NC members are protesting against the Speaker from their party to hoodwink people,” Lone said.

To prevent a clash, the watch and ward staff formed a human chain between Lone and two NC members.

Despite repeated pleas of the Speaker, who asked the members to go back to their seats, the commotion continued.

The Speaker said, “You cannot undo what Parliament has already done. There is no question of discussion over the issue. I have disallowed the adjournment motion.”

However, unrelenting NC members continued with their protests raising slogans of “Kala kanoon wapis lo”, “Waqf Bill wapis lo” and “BJP hai hai”.

Amid the chaos, BJP MLAs Rajiv Jasrotia and Pawan Gupta jumped into the well and staged a sit-in objecting to continual disruptions by NC members

With no let-up in protests, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes

Earlier, NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq repeatedly demanded a debate on the Waqf Act.

Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and ministers Sakina Itoo, Javed Dar and Javed Rana were present in the House.

The Speaker had to adjourn the House thrice on the same issue on Monday and no business could be taken up.