BJP and NPP MLAs protest against Omar Abdullah's remarks outside assembly

Opposition BJP and National Panthers Party MLAs today staged a protest outside the Jamu and Kashmir assembly against Omar Abdullah's remarks over accession of the state with the saffron party demanding that the chief minister be tried for his "anti-national" speech.

The BJP members, who were marshalled out of the House yesterday, sat on the dharna outside the Assembly complex here
to protest against Omar's speech and the use of the marshals on them.

BJP MLA Ashok Khajuria said the chief minister should be tried for his anti-national speech in the Assembly. "He should be in jail for questioning the integrity of the country," he added.

Khajuria said Omar was speaking the language of his grandfather and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for which the latter served 15 years in jail. "What happened after that

Sheikh Abdullah slipped from prime minister to chief minister's chair. It is all about power," he alleged.

The BJP legislature party, which has decided to boycott the remaining part of the ongoing session, will continue its dharna outside the assembly tomorrow also, Khajuria said.

The NPP MLAs briefly appeared in the House today and submitted a petition to speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone demanding some parts of the speech of Omar's which were in contravention to the section three of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution be expunged.

"The chief minister categorically stated in the assembly that Jammu and Kashmir has acceded to the Union of India and not merged with it. This statement is violative of of section three of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir," the NPP MLAs led by Harsh Dev Singh said in the petition. 

He said the remarks being "derogatory an contemptuous" of the Constitution should be expunged. 

NPP has decided to boycott the ongoing Assembly session, he added. 

High drama was witnessed in the assembly yesterday when opposition BJP and NPP MLAs stormed into the well of the House to protest Omar's speech, forcing the Speaker to order marshals to take them out. 

In the melee, four MLAs -- three from BJP and one from NPP -- and a security personnel suffered minor injuries. 

The chief minister, while referring to points raised by opposition members during the two-day debate, on Wednesday said Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India cannot be compared to Hyderabad and Junagarh as the later had merged with the
Union, which was not the case with the trouble-torn state.

"We have acceded to the Union under a special provision in the Constitution, while Hyderabad and Junagarh merged with India after acceding to it," he had said.

Meanwhile, several attempts were made by the Assembly secretariat, government and some MLAs to persuade the BJP and
NPP members to end their boycott.

CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami urged the Speaker to renew the attempts to bring back the opposition members. 

"Since yesterday, I am in touch with the members directly as well as through some officials in this regard. However, I do not agree with your assertion that they can do whatever they like in the House," Lone told Tarigami. 

Law and Parliamentary affairs minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, minister for medical education RS Chib, National Conference MLA Nazir Gurezi and Tarigami met the protesting BJP members in an attempt to persuade them for ending their boycott.

This is for the second consecutive day that Assembly proceedings have been conducted without the presence of any opposition member in the House. 

Opposition People's Demcoratic Party (PDP) has stayed away from the proceedings from September 30, when the Assembly
met for the summer session, as a protest against the civilian
killings in Kashmir over the past four months.

They have also demanded initiation of action against the security force personnel responsible for these killings.