The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held its assembly session on Friday on the lawns of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly after many of its legislators were either forced out or walked out in protest. They were demanding the withdrawal of a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma took on the role of Speaker in this parallel session, allowing members to speak out against the resolution. "The way our honourable members were forced out is nothing less than hooliganism. We had high expectations from the Speaker due to his experience, but the way we were treated was unfortunate," said BJP MLA Pavan Gupta.
He criticised what happened in the House and added that people in Kashmir are happy now because of the peace that came after the removal of Article 370.
"This is the real assembly; let's discuss public issues here," said BJP MLA RS Pathania, explaining the purpose of their alternative session. Other BJP MLAs shared similar views. Chander Prakash Ganga, another BJP MLA, described the legislators who brought posters into the House as "separatists."
Earlier, a large group of BJP legislators was removed from the House when they tried to enter the well of the Assembly to push for a reversal of the special status resolution. Later, the BJP legislators walked out. Almost 12 BJP MLAs were removed after Speaker Abdur Rahim Rather instructed the marshals not to allow them back in.
After the BJP leaders were removed by House marshals, the Assembly resumed business as members spoke on the vote of thanks on the Lieutenant Governor's address.