‘Some legislators’ supporting ‘Land Jehad’
*AIP Member marshalled out
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Mar 20: The Legislative Assembly witnessed uproar today after the remarks of Leader of Opposition, Sunil Kumar Sharma, followed by some objectionable remarks by the AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik, causing disruptions in the proceedings of the House for about 11 minutes.
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Amidst heated exchanges between the BJP and the NC legislators besides the only AAP Member, Mehraj Malik the proceedings remained stalled in the House when LoP, Sunil Sharma was participating in the discussion before CM’s reply. The LoP said that for the first time in the history after India’s independence, the Legislators from J&K took oath of the Constitution of India. There were two Constitutions earlier.
He said before Aug 5, 2019, the J&K witnessed dual control and not now, as claimed by some of the members in the ruling party. The Modi Govt brought equality in the entire country and provided much awaited justice and equal opportunities to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
These remarks irked the National Conference members besides AAP member Mehraj Malik and it was followed by heated arguments between the members of opposition and those from treasury benches. Both the sides traded charges on each other. NC held BJP responsible for the mess created in J&K after Aug 5, 2019 and said that instead of speaking on the subject the LoP was raising irrelevant issues.
Another issue of LoP Sunil Sharma invited heated arguments when he said over 689 people from a particular community have grabbed land adjoining river Tawi while just four members from Haryana have settled in Kashmir, the members from a particular party raised hue and cry. He said now Art 370 has gone, anybody from any part of the country can settle here but some legislators are trying to shield land grabbers. He termed it as ‘Land Jehad’, getting support from the legislators from a particular party. ” Lekin Yehan Kuch Logon Ko Mirchi Kiyun Lagti Hai’, Sharma remarked.
These arguments created another spell of heated arguments and clashes between the two sides. Mubarak Gul who was in the chair tried to restore the House in order but he failed in his repeated attempts.
Amidst din, the AAP member raised objectionable remarks against a particular majority community in Jammu which turned the clash between the AAP Member and BJP legislators. The BJP members in the fit of anger, moved towards Mehraj for physical assault but were stopped by the watch and ward staff. BJP members Yudhvir Sethi, Surinder Kumar, Vikram Randhawa, Arvind Gupta and others had reached almost closer to Mehraj but were pushed back by the Marshalls.
Later, while discussing the Chief Minister’s grants, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma criticised the AAP MLA, saying that he has hurt religious sentiments of Hindu by linking the community with liquor.
Taking a dig at the treasury benches for “using” him against the opposition, Sharma said, “He should apologise for hurting Hindu sentiments. The treasury benches should condemn it. The entire House should condemn it.”
He accused them of encouraging him to target them. “Are you not trying to stoke fire here? You should not allow him to speak like this?” Sharma questioned.
The entire opposition stood up from their benches demanding an apology from him. As he tried to respond, some BJP members led by MLA Yudhvir Sethi rushed towards Mehraj, who told them “they are not Hindus”.
However, they were prevented from approaching him, leading to noisy scenes and ruckus.
As BJP members demanded an apology, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather clarified that he was not present in the House when the incident occurred.
“I will review the record. If you are saying that he has hurt religious sentiments with his remarks, I will condemn it and expunge it after verifying the records,” he told the House.
Meanwhile, AIP member Sheikh Khurshid lodged strong protest in the House as Chief Minister stood up for the reply. AIP MLA who happens to be the brother of MP Engineer Rashid. alleged that he was not allowed to speak by the Speaker. He moved from his seat towards well of the House raising papers but was not allowed by the watch and ward staff. He disrupted the proceedings for about 4 minutes. The Speaker asked him to sit at his place but he ignored the repeated calls of the Chair. The CM kept standing waiting for his turn to speak. Later Khurshid was marshaled out of the House.
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