Jammu, Sep 25 BJP MLAs on Friday demanded the immediate dismissal of the Jammu and Kashmir government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, alleging that its recent moves are aimed at reviving an earlier political arrangement and challenging the constitutional framework.
BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma accused the NC-Congress government in the Union Territory of attempting to overrun its constitutional domain by moving a resolution in the Assembly that, he claimed, sought to revive issues related to autonomy and the pre-1953 constitutional arrangement.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party does not want this. Our leadership has committed on the floor of the House that we will provide statehood at an appropriate time. But their nefarious designs are not about statehood. They want it (greater autonomy) forcibly. They want to revive the kind of political arrangement that Sheikh Abdullah had designed at that time,” Sharma told a press conference here.
“From time to time, the National Conference (NC) gets exposed before the citizens of the country,” he said.
Referring to the BJP’s protest in the Assembly earlier in the day, Sharma said, “You would have seen that we maintained discipline and did not indulge in any vandalism.”
“But looking at their designs, I, as a citizen of Jammu and Kashmir, want to request the Government of India, and in particular, the home minister, under whose direct control this Union Territory comes, to consider dissolving this government immediately because of this mindset,” he said.
Sharma lashed out at the Jammu and Kashmir government for seeking greater autonomy and said, “They have no right to remain in the chair as the chief minister and ministers.”
Hitting out at the NC for its “divisive” politics to “mislead” the people of Kashmir, he said, “These people are challenging the integrity, identity and unity of India. The rule of law will have to prevail here and it will have to be ensured.”
Sharma said the BJP will take on these “nefarious designs”, nail by nail, both inside and outside the House.
“Every citizen here, every BJP worker and those who have made sacrifices for Kashmir knows that Kashmir belongs to us. The whole of Kashmir is ours. This is our resolve,” he said.
Abdullah moved a resolution in the Assembly on Friday, calling for the “immediate and urgent restoration of full statehood” to Jammu and Kashmir. The resolution specifically referred to two earlier resolutions. The reference to a 2000 greater-autonomy resolution triggered strong protests by BJP members and disrupted proceedings.
Alleging that the government was “on the back foot”, Sharma accused it of trying to divert the proceedings from the business of the House by turning “non-issues into issues”.
He alleged that the controversy surrounding Friday’s resolution has brought the NC’s political agenda “out of the bag”.
“The cat is out of the bag,” Sharma said, alleging that the NC’s agenda has remained unchanged since its earlier incarnation as the Muslim Conference in 1932.
He also accused the ruling party of trying to divert public attention through emotive issues.
On the resolution moved by the chief minister, the BJP MLA questioned whether the prescribed procedure under the Assembly’s rules was followed.
“There is a rule book that governs the proceedings of the Assembly, which guides us as well as the speaker, and we have to conduct ourselves within that established framework,” he said.
Sharma alleged that the chair has failed to maintain the “sanctity” of the procedure and claimed that Abdullah moved the resolution during the course of the business.
He said the existing constitutional framework of Jammu and Kashmir has been defined following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state and argued that the Assembly cannot claim supremacy over Parliament or the Supreme Court.
(PTI News)
