Will lead parallel government if J&K president questions country’s sovereignty: BJP | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced that it will head a parallel government in Jammu and Kashmir if Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim prefers to continue with actions that, it claims, threaten its “sovereignty and integrity of the nation’. This comes as the J&K Assembly witnessed unabated chaos for the third day in a row over a controversial resolution demanding immediate restoration of special status of the Union Territory.
The unrest started when the National Conference of Jammu and Kashmir (NC) has introduced a new resolution calling for the restoration of special status. The BJP, which opposed the resolution, termed it ‘illegal’, demanded its withdrawal and organized a walk.
“We earlier held a parallel meeting outside after the Speaker expelled our MLAs. We raised issues from our constituencies and the media reported about it,” Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Sunil Sharma said as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Leader of the Opposition warned that the BJP could lead a parallel government. “The Speaker should not take this parallel meeting lightly. If your behavior questions Indian integrity and sovereignty, we will run a parallel government and this is my warning to them,” he said.
Sharma said the manner in which the Speaker has conducted the Assembly is condemnable.
“We condemn it. This will be the darkest day in the history of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The assembly was formed by the people in the hope that their problems of water, electricity, hospitals and education will be resolved,” he said.
“However, the chairman has acted as an agent of a particular party and has done an unconstitutional and illegal act in an undemocratic manner,” Sharma said.
The BJP leader said that all MLAs had come to the meeting to discuss issues from their respective areas but the ‘separatist mentality’ of the National Conference (NC) had degraded the dignity of the House of Representatives by introducing the resolution.
Sharma further said, “It is unfortunate that the Speaker is claiming that the call for special status is tantamount to a demand for reinstatement of Article 370, and is actually acting as a spokesperson for the National Conference.” He said Article 370 had been abrogated by the country’s highest democratic institution and the matter had been settled by the Supreme Court.
“Article 370 is now part of history. They equate it with the term ‘special status’, which does not even appear in the Constitution.”
He then challenged Prime Minister Omar Abdullah and said, “If there is any reference to special status for Jammu and Kashmir in the Constitution, I will distance myself from politics.”
The BJP leader also alleged that the NC led by Omar Abdullah wants to instigate street violence in the name of special status.
“Under the special status, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to migrate, Asiya Neelofar was killed, Tufail Mattoo was killed and Haji Yousuf was killed in the Prime Minister’s house. They want this (kind of) special status back,” he said.