Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Sep 21
Jammu and Kashmir’s seven-day autumn legislative assembly session opened on Monday amid loud protests by BJP lawmakers, who disrupted Question Hour while demanding answers on employment, utilities and other public issues.
BJP legislators raised slogans and displayed placards over the regularisation of daily wagers, drinking water and electricity supplies and protests by National Health Mission employees.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather asked the protesting members to allow Question Hour to proceed and directed that the BJP demonstration not be recorded.
The BJP members continued their protest and entered the well of the House, prompting CPI (M) legislator Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami to urge them to add a demand for restoration of statehood to their slogans.
“Two years have passed, but the promise of statehood has not been fulfilled,” Tarigami said.
Congress lawmakers then raised slogans against the central government, while NC legislators also demanded restoration of statehood.
NC lawmaker Ali Muhammad Sagar joined the criticism of the BJP’s disruption, while Gurez MLA Nazir Ahmad Khan accused the BJP of deliberately wasting the House’s time.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said the government was ready to answer opposition questions if they were raised individually.
The Speaker eventually adjourned the House after Question Hour.
Earlier, the session began with an obituary reference to former legislators Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Dharam Paul, and Ghulam Hassan Khan, followed by a two-minute silence.
