Nobody will be allowed to play with members’ sentiments: Assembly speaker

Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Thursday said that nobody will be allowed to play with the sentiments of any member in the House.

The speaker made the remarks after BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma objected to the use of “unparliamentary language” in the House by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Mehraj Malik against opposition members.

Participating in a discussion on the Motion of Thanks on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s address to the House, Malik, who was seated behind the treasury benches, criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and claimed that except drug addiction going up, nothing has changed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

He accused the BJP of promoting a culture of drugs, leading to spontaneous protests by the opposition members, with Sharma demanding action against him.

However, the speaker intervened and assured the members that nobody will be allowed to play with their sentiments in the House.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP, Malik said there has been an increase in the number of liquor shops, and mafia culture and corruption have gone up in Jammu and Kashmir, while outsiders were given major projects, leading to economic distress among the locals with all the money going outside the Union Territory.

He demanded promotion of tourism and creation of necessary infrastructure.

Interestingly, the AAP MLA from Doda on Wednesday expressed his displeasure on getting a seat behind the opposition members, prompting an intervention from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who informed him that the seating arrangement was decided by the speaker and the government had nothing to do with it.

“You are in my heart and a younger brother,” the chief minister said. — (PTI)