Jammu: Two BJP legislators walked into the Well of the House and staged a sit-in amid chaotic scenes in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, leading to its adjournment by the speaker for the second day on Tuesday.
The MLAs — Rajiv Jasrotia and Pawan Gupta — staged the protest in front of the opposition benches, holding question papers in their hands even as the marshals were busy holding back several protesting members of the National Conference, Congress and PDP from entering the Well.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather tried to persuade the members to return to their seats, and later adjourned the House, first for 30 minutes before extending the period till 1 pm and subsequently for the full day.
Talking to reporters outside the Assembly, Jasrotia, a former minister and two-time MLA, accused the National Conference (NC) of deliberately creating a ruckus on the issue of the Waqf (Amendment) Act to disrupt private members’ bills and resolutions.
“I forwarded a question having five parts concerning relief and rehabilitation of 1947, 1965 and 1971 refugees from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). But the first four parts of the question were not answered by the government,” he said.
The BJP leader also claimed that there were thousands of refugee families from PoJK who were not provided any relief by the government.
“I was planning to corner the government for the incomplete answers, but the continuous protest by the NC members stalled the Question Hour for the second day. This House has no mandate to discuss the Waqf law after Parliament passed the Bill and the president put her stamp on it,” Jasrotia said.
He also accused the NC of playing to the gallery on the “name of religion”, and trying to hoodwink the public.
2 BJP MLAs stages sit
