Srinagar: The main opposition party in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly on Wednesday accused the speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather, of “helping the government” draft the resolution seeking restoration of the special status and its passage in the assembly.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Padder in Kishtwar district, said the passing of the resolution is against the sanctity of the legislature as it was not listed in the business for today.
“The so-called resolution that was moved and passed by the government was not in the list of business of the legislative assembly. Today, the House was to debate about the Lieutenant Governor's address. But with clever tactics, the government passed the resolution. This is against the sanctity of the house,” Sharma told reporters outside the assembly.
The National Conference-led government today passed the resolution seeking the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir with constitutional guarantees.
The resolution was moved by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and seconded by Cabinet Minister Sakeena Itoo. It was passed by a voice vote in the legislature.
The NC-congress government has 55 legislators, while the opposition BJP has 28 legislators in the 90-member house.
"Our reports suggest that the Speaker helped the government draft the resolution on Tuesday evening. The speaker had gave a list of the businesses also. But the resolution, which is illegal and unconstitutional, has no sanctity or validity because this assembly is not above the Parliament and Supreme Court verdict," Sharma said.
He said the government has trashed the dignity of Parliament and the Supreme Court verdict.
"Speaker who is the custodian of the house and a constitutional post has been denigrated as he favoured a particular party. He behaved as an agent and a worker of the party," he claimed.
He said that by seeking special status restoration, the National Conference is in reality demanding Article 370 restoration.
"Article 370 abrogation is now history, and nobody can't restore it. Farooq Abdullah had said that Narendra Modi would need fifty births for the abrogation of Article 370. And today I tell the Abdullah family that it will take a thousand years and still you won't get back Article 370," he said.
"The National Conference has the habit of building false narratives and misleading the people of Kashmir. On Article 370 and autonomy, the party would bring people to the streets but they are worried about the development of Jammu and Kashmir, and by seeking to restore Article 370, they want to destroy the people of Jammu and Kashmir so that they do politics of blood again," Sharma said.
The BJP leader said the opposition wanted to debate in the assembly about the governance promises of the NC government, but they brought a resolution that had no relevance.
“We demand that the speaker take back this resolution, which is unconstitutional. He will be called an NC speaker,” Sharma said.
Meanwhile, National Conference workers and leaders celebrated the passing of the resolution in Jammu. Led by the party's provincial president RL Gupta and secretary Sheikh Bashir, the NC workers assembled at the party headquarters displaying party flags. They later danced over the beats of drum and burst firecrackers.
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