CM's remarks on Article 370; Speaker's expunction
BJP irks, NC welcomes, CPI (M) Questions
If Speaker doesn't have power to expunge the remarks who else, Mr. Tarigami ?
R.S. Gill
Jammu Tawi, Jan 31: CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami on Tuesday said the speaker of the legislative assembly was not authorised to expunge the remarks made by the chief minister on the floor of the house.
Tarigami said the recent action by the speaker and opposition by the BJP members vindicate that the coalition is at logger heads and it is the alliance for the chair and not for protecting JK's special status.
The veteran CPI(M) legislator's questioning the power of the Speaker of the JK Assembly to order expunction of the undesirable and offending remarks from the proceedings of the Assembly raised a further question as Mr. Tarigami was letting out his anger purely for political reasons and the intolerance of all Kashmir centric leaders they nurse for allergic BJP. Speaker of JK Legislative Assembly is a constitutional post and he is the boss of the entire show and conduct of the business and proceedings in the House. The Northlines, reproduce from the Rule book to make the confusion clear.
Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
In Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
14TH EDITION-2008
On page 164 under Chapter
Report of Proceedings.
- The Secretary shall cause to be prepared
a full report of the proceedings of the House at
each of its sittings and shall, as soon as practicable
publish it in such form and manner as the Speaker
may, from time to time, direct.
- If the Speaker is of opinion that words
have been used and actions made in debate which
are defamatory or indecent or unparliamentarily or
Undignified, he may in his discretion, order that such
words be expunged from the proceedings of the
House and undignified, indecent and unparliamentarily
actions on the part of members shall not be reported
and recorded.
- The portion of the proceedings of the
House so expunged shall be marked by asterisks and
an explanatory foot-note shall be inserted in the
proceedings as follows : “Expunged as ordered by the Chair.”
Taking a dig on the statement of Chief Minister about Article 370 to the effect that demand of removal of Article 370 is anti-Nationalist, Bhartiya Janata Party on Tuesday said negating the statement of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and said it was factually untrue and not sustainable.
BJP's chief spokesperson Mr. Sunil Sethi, in a statement said that abrogation of Article 370 and its aftermath including Article 35A are core Agenda of Bharatiya Janata Party and the party has never left and abandoned its core agenda. “Only for the purposes of running coalition government in the state the party has decided to not press for Abrogation of art 370 while in govt but in no way the agenda is left.”
National Conference welcomed Mehbooba Mufti's statement in the Legislative Assembly where she said there was no bigger “anti-national act” than “raking up Article 370 and Article 35A repeatedly” in repeated attempts to use the judicial route to weaken the State's special constitutional status.
National Conference State Spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu said the party welcomes this statement as it was a reiteration of the party's consistent stand on the issue and also factually and constitutionally correct.
