Jammu & Kashmir: At least 15 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, including Langate MLA Sheikh Khurshid, were on Friday marshalled out of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly as they attempted to protest in the well of the House.
Soon after the speaker evicted the leaders, 11 other BJP MLAs walked out of the House in protest.
The House has been witnessing uproar for the last two days as BJP MLAs have been protesting vociferously after the resolution to restore the special status passed by an overwhelming vote on Wednesday, November 6.
‘Remove them away…’
The BJP members had jumped into the well, grabbed the papers, and tore them into pieces, causing the speaker to marshall them out.
“Remove them away…,” J&K Assembly‘s newly elected speaker Abdul Rahim Rather could be heard repeating, ordering for the BJP leaders to be rushed out, according to the visuals released by ANI.
When the House met for the day in the morning, the BJP MLAs raised slogans like ‘Pakistani agenda nahi chalega.’ Amid the chaos, the speaker adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.
Following the adjournment, the MLAs continued to protest, even after Rahim Rather requested them to take their seats.
J&K Assembly ruckus: The story behind
After the resolution seeking the restoration of the erstwhile state’s constitutional special status was passed on Wednesday, the Assembly urged the Centre to begin discussions with elected representatives from the region to restore Jammu and Kashmir‘s special status and constitutional guarantees and establish the necessary constitutional mechanisms for this purpose.
“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,” PTI quoted Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary as saying.
J&K Assembly
Today’s episode marks the third day that the Assembly has witnessed chaos and bedlam, paralysing the proceedings.
On November 7, the Assembly erupted into chaos after Engineer Rashid’s brother and MLA Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh displayed a banner on Article 370, the provision granting special status to the erstwhile state abolished in August 2019.