Says CM ‘scripted’ Assembly chaos only to kill Waqf Bill
Srinagar, Apr 15: Peoples Conference (PC) President and Handwara MLA Sajad Gani Lone on Monday accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference (NC) legislators of deliberately derailing the Assembly’s discussion on the Waqf Bill.
Lone said the disruption was scripted to prevent the passage of a resolution that would have held political significance for Muslims in India.
In a detailed post on X, Lone, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), referred to the recent remarks made by the Chief Minister, who had said the Assembly members committed a mistake by filing the Waqf Bill discussion under an adjournment motion instead of a government resolution.
“The Speaker may have allowed the discussion on the Waqf Bill, but unfortunately our members committed a mistake by filing it as an adjournment motion,” Omar Abdullah had said during a public address in Pulwama.
Responding to this, Lone wrote that he had already pointed out the same procedural error on April 7, the day the National Conference members began their protest in the Assembly. “What CM sahib has said today, I had already tweeted on April 7. And for saying the same, the NC members used all possible political pejoratives against me,” he wrote.
Lone accused the ruling party of showing political nonchalance toward the Waqf Bill and called it a “criminal” act. He questioned the conduct of over 50 NC legislators who, he said, disrupted the Assembly proceedings for three consecutive days.
“Are you telling us that collectively the Speaker, the Chief Minister, and all NC legislators and lawyers could not notice for three days that they were making a mistake?” Lone wrote. “Are you telling us that the collective IQ of your legislators is such that a glaring mistake staring at their faces for three days was unnoticeable by them?”
He alleged that the Assembly protest was not a mistake but a deliberate move by the ruling party to block a resolution. “This was your script. The whole song and dance performance was orchestrated by you. You did not want a resolution from the J&K Assembly,” he said.
Lone said a resolution from Jammu and Kashmir would have carried weight and sent a strong message, but the government ensured that no such opportunity was allowed. “You were not interested in passing the resolution and did not allow the tiny opposition to even make a statement,” he said.
He also questioned the Chief Minister’s absence during the days of disruption. “Where were you for three days? I know for some time you were in the Tulip Garden,” he wrote.
Lone demanded an apology from the Chief Minister and called for an emergency one-day session of the Assembly—(KNO)
