Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 18: BJP MLA from Gandhi Nagar Kavinder Gupta was today elected unanimously as Speaker of the 12th Assembly.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and PDP leader Basharat Bukhari moved a motion in the Assembly saying that Kavinder Gupta, a member of this House, be chosen as the Speaker.
Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Dr Nirmal Singh seconded the motion.
The Speaker was elected with voice vote with no one from the Opposition going against the motion.
Gupta is an MLA from Gandhi Nagar constituency in Jammu district and had served as Mayor of Jammu Municipal Corporation thrice. He had defeated Congress heavyweight and Minister Raman Bhalla in the Assembly elections.
This is for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that any BJP leader has been elected as the Speaker.
After the election of Gupta, he was taken to the Speaker’s chair by Dr Nirmal Singh, Basharat Bukhari and NC MLA and former Speaker Mubarak Gul.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former Chief Minister and NC Legislative Party leader Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, Congress Legislative leader Nawang Rigzin Jora, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami welcomed and congratulated the newly elected Speaker.
In his address after being elected as the Speaker, Gupta assured the members of the House that he will try his best to come up to their expectations by way of strengthening the credibility of the Speaker’s institution and at the same time will seek their cooperation for the smooth functioning of the proceedings of the House.
“We have to work vigorously to reshape our State by way of inducing in our minds cooperation and the element of live and let live besides we should also exercise great restraint to cheap politicking at this juncture, confine our-selves to the true spirit of the Constitutional obligations by way of resorting to self-introspection and purification of our thoughts and to strengthen our will power to fulfill the aspirations and wishes of the people. We need to keep ourselves on toes to meet the challenges ahead of us and to realize dreams of the people who actively and overwhelmingly participated in the recently held elections,” he said.
The Speaker said that service to humanity is indeed a noble achievement in life and we should be proud of being blessed by the people with opportunity. “Today is ours but tomorrow belongs to our children and vitiating atmosphere intentionally or un-intentionally will definitely leave behind a barren land for them and history will hold us responsible for our wrong doings. Let us forget the past act today and attach good hopes with tomorrow”, he asserted.
Kavinder Gupta said that Jammu and Kashmir State is like a mini India, because of its socio-economic and religious fabric. He said “We have to be more cautious in our endeavour and not leave any scope to any element to disturb the very spirit of our strength i.e. unity, brotherhood and harmony”.
He hoped that all the Members will rise above the party lines and affiliations for maintaining the decency and decorum of the House, which is not possible without their full cooperation”, he maintained.
The Speaker said that the opposition is undoubtedly the backbone of a democratic set up and it has rightly been said that it has to oppose, propose and expose while the Government has to dispose. He, however, appealed to all the Members, both the opposition and treasury benches to raise the issues of the people’s welfare strictly in accordance with the prescribed rules, regulations and procedures. Adhering to these basics, they can achieve the goal of welfare of the general masses of this State, who have suffered due to one or the other reason during the recent past.
Speaking after election of the Speaker, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said that democracy is a battle of ideas and assured that opposition would not be gagged and it should keep the Government on toes.
“It is your (Speaker’s) duty and our (Government’s) duty — we do not want to gag. Opposition has its viewpoint. We will like the Opposition to keep us on toes”, Sayeed said.
“You (Speaker) are the custodian of the House. I always say that democracy is battle of ideas. I was watching Congress debates in US. Everybody who speaks up makes a point,” the Chief Minister said.
“The opposition should highlight the mistakes of the ruling Government. I feel that we may have also done mistakes when we were in opposition. Opposition has full rights to… I have full hope that this Assembly, which is everything to us as an institution and this Assembly is more important”, he said.
Bating for a strong opposition, Sayeed noted, “Opposition should play their role…Discussions churn out good things. But noise does not make anything. We will say opposition should not remain mute spectator”.
The Chief Minister also congratulated the newly appointed Speaker and exuded confidence that he will conduct the business of the House admirably.
“I pray for your success and am sure you will conduct the House efficiently by allowing both the treasury as well as the opposition benches equal opportunities in putting forth their viewpoints,” he said.
Congratulating the opposition members for supporting the election of Gupta, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh said that people have reposed faith in a vibrant democracy and whole House should stand united in strengthening it further.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in his brief address congratulated the newly elected Speaker and described him as the custodian of the House.
Abdullah expressed hope that the Speaker would provide equal opportunities to all members to highlight the issues of public interest. He assured him fullest cooperation from his party for smooth conduct of proceedings of the House.
Gupta was also wished by Nawang Rigzin Jora, leader of Congress Party in the House, M Y Tarigami, CPI(M) MLA, Independent MLA Hakeem Mohammad Yasin, Engineer Abdul Rashid and Peoples Conference leader Bashir Ahmed Dar.
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