STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: BJP legislators on Wednesday staged a dharna outside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after staging a walkout from the House, alleging that Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather was “muzzling the voice of the opposition” and showing bias while allotting speaking time to members of the ruling party.
All BJP members walked out of the Assembly after protesting inside the House over the issue. The legislators, led by Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, later sat on a dharna outside the Assembly complex and raised slogans against the Speaker and the government.
“We are sitting on a dharna after protesting against the biased manner in which the Speaker is granting time to opposition members to speak. The Speaker is shielding the government from giving replies. This is muzzling the voice of the opposition,” Sharma told reporters.
He alleged that the government had been giving evasive replies for the past year and accused it of trying to shift responsibility to previous regimes.
Sharma said the principal opposition party was being denied an adequate opportunity to present its views in the House.
Referring to the discussion on the Lieutenant Governor’s address, Sharma claimed that each party was allotted a limited time, and opposition members were not allowed to effectively participate in the debate. He alleged that attempts were being made to suppress dissenting voices, and the Speaker’s attention remained focused on the treasury benches.
BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma also accused the government of avoiding accountability and said the party had decided to play the role of a constructive opposition.
“The government has completed sixteen months, but is trying to hide behind the Speaker to avoid accountability. We want transparency and want to bring before the people the mistakes committed during this period, whether it is allocation of funds, alleged misappropriations, or disparity towards the Jammu region,” he said.
NC members Nazir Gurezi and Salman Sagar reached out to the protesting BJP MLAs to persuade them to rejoin the proceedings of the House. After prolonged persuasion, they returned to the House.
Meanwhile, some BJP members walked out despite the Speaker’s attempts to persuade them to remain in the House, asserting that he was not differentiating between members.
Before the walkout, heated exchanges took place between BJP legislators and treasury bench members, who accused the opposition of engaging in divisive politics and raised issues related to the Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College.