NC, Oppn Clash In J&K Assembly Over Waqf Act, House Briefly Adjourned

JAMMU:
Unruly scenes were witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly between the MLAs of the ruling National Conference (NC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Peoples Conference (PC) legislators over the Waqf Act issue prompting Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather to adjourn the House for 30 minutes on Tuesday.

As soon as the House assembled for the day’s proceedings, Waheed Para of the PDP and Sajad Gani Lone of the PC stood up on their seats, demanding a discussion on the Waqf Amendment Act.

There were verbal clashes between Salman Sagar of the NC and Sajad Gani Lone, with both accusing each other of ‘playing into the hands of the BJP’.

Repeated requests by the Speaker to the clashing MLAs to go back to their seats failed to calm the tempers as Awami Ittehad party (AIP) MLA, Khursheed Ahmad also joined Sajad Lone and Waheed Para in their verbal duel with the NC MLAs.

The Speaker then adjourned the House for 30 minutes as he refused to allow a discussion on the Waqf Amendment Act maintaining that the matter was sub judice and, therefore, cannot be debated in the House.

Outside the Assembly, Waheed Para told reporters that as the chief minister of the only Muslim majority state in the country, Omar Abdullah should have been present in the House to pilot a discussion on the Waqf Amendment Act.

“The CM instead chose to take a walk around the tulip garden with the minority affairs minister, who presented the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha,” Para said.

Earlier, NC spokesman and MLA Tanvir Sadiq accused Waheed Para of playing ‘the game of the BJP’.

“He is sitting in their lap,” Tanvir Sadiq said.

“NC should bring no confidence motion against the Speaker if they think he is not allowing motion on genuine issue, otherwise it looks a drama,” said Sajad Lone.

The 40-day-long budget session of the J&K Legislative Assembly will conclude on April 11.

The NC has 42 members, the BJP 29, Congress six, PDP three, CPI(M) one, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) one, AIP one and PC one. Six Independents were also elected to the Assembly, but five of them later joined the NC.