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| Chairs fly, papers torn: Assembly descends into chaos over ‘statehood resolution’ | | | Mahim Gupta
Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 25: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly descended into chaos on Friday as a resolution moved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah demanding immediate restoration of statehood triggered a furious clash between the ruling National Conference-led coalition and the Opposition BJP, forcing Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather to adjourn the House till Monday.
The uproar was not over the demand for statehood itself, but over the resolution's text, which invoked the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile state's Assembly on June 26, 2000. The resolution called on the Centre for the "immediate and urgent restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir," explicitly building on both the 2000 resolution and one passed on November 6, 2024.
The reference to 2000 set off pandemonium. BJP legislators, incensed at what they saw as a backdoor attempt to revive the demand for greater autonomy, stormed the well of the House and tore up copies of the resolution. Slogans rang out as members clashed near the Speaker's podium.
In a particularly heated moment, BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa picked up a chair belonging to a fellow member and was marshalled out of the House. Balwant Singh Mankotia climbed onto a table in protest, while a scuffle broke out between Independent MLA Shabbir Kule and BJP's Arvind Gupta before marshals intervened.
Two Congress MLAs also pushed toward the well amid the commotion. With the situation refusing to calm down, the Speaker first adjourned proceedings for half an hour at 11:50 am, before adjourning the House until Monday at 1:15 pm.
Moving the resolution, Omar Abdullah reminded the House that the Centre had laid out a three-stage roadmap to statehood — delimitation, elections, and restoration — and that while the first two had been completed, with people participating enthusiastically in the elections, the promise of statehood remained unfulfilled.
He invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own assurance made in Katra: "This is not an ordinary promise; it is Modi's promise. It will be fulfilled." Abdullah said it was time to remind New Delhi of that commitment, and referenced the Opposition Leader's repeated public statements on statehood, urging that the matter be debated on the floor of the House itself.
"We don't want a half-hearted state," Abdullah said, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir had been promised full statehood and intended to hold the Centre to it.
He also flagged administrative bottlenecks stemming from the Union Territory's diminished status — pointing out that while the power department nominally falls under his government, files concerning the Power Development Corporation never reach it.
He cited a similar pattern with institutions like SKIMS and ESMC, which receive government funding but keep the government out of decisions on how it is used. If the elected government holds every power except security and law and order, Abdullah asked, why does it have no say over something as basic as energy?
BJP members pushed back hard on the resolution's framing. MLA Pawan Gupta questioned why a resolution on statehood needed to invoke the 2000 autonomy resolution at all, arguing it belonged to an era when Jammu and Kashmir was a full state — not a Union Territory. Rajiv Jasrotia demanded the Speaker explain the inclusion, while RS Pathania declared the party would resist any attempt to raise the autonomy issue in the House. BJP members branded the resolution unconstitutional before the protest spilled into the well.
With tempers refusing to cool and marshals unable to restore order, the Speaker adjourned the House till Monday, leaving the resolution's fate — and the autonomy question it reopened — unresolved. |
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