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As the Jammu and Kashmir assembly session concludes with a ruckus, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma slammed the Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather for his "reprehensible" conduct in the House after the BJP MLAs were marshalled out.
Sharma also called the day a "black chapter" in the history of J&K. Notably, ruckus ensued in Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Friday, the third day in a row, after People's Democratic Party (PDP) MLA from Kupwara exhibited a banner in support of the restoration of Article 370 in the union territory. "Today was the last day of the assembly session and the way the Speaker of the House behaved and conducted the assembly is reprehensible. Today will be written as a black day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir... The Speaker acted as an agent of a particular party... JKNC has a separatist mindset and has shown its mindset by bringing an unconstitutional resolution," said Sharma. Earlier he accused Assembly Speaker of behaving as the "Speaker of National Conference," instead of the House. Sharma alleged that the Speaker wanted to "suppress" the voice of the opposition. "This is the darkest day in J&K's democracy. For the last three days, the Speaker - who is believed to be the custodian of the House, has been implementing marshal law, behaving as the Speaker of the National Conference. They want to suppress the voice of the opposition," Sharma said. Opposing the resolution to restore Article 370, LoP Sharma said that this assembly is not bigger than the Parliament and the Supreme Court and there cannot be debate on this topic. After BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the House, Sharma said that they would run a parallel assembly against the Speaker outside the House. He said, "We believe that all these actions are unlawful, undemocratic and unconstitutional. The resolution (to restore Article 370) was drafted by the Speaker himself. We want them to take it back. Article 370 is a history - it can't be debated now. This assembly is not bigger than the Parliament and the Supreme Court. We wanted to have a debate - about the way our MLAs were manhandled by the marshals at the direction of the Speaker, they did this today as well. We will now sit here on protest to run a parallel assembly against the Speaker." Notably, the restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir's statehood were the main promises made by the National Conference in its manifesto for the Jammu-Kashmir elections. (ANI)
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