BJP men thrash J& K MLA over ‘ beef party’
Mufti: House attack ‘ unfortunate’
The beef ban row in Kashmir got murkier Thursday as several BJP MLAs thrashed Independent member Sheikh Abdur Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, in the Assembly a day after he hosted a “beef party” here.
This led to uproarious scenes and continuous shouting in the House and the Opposition walked out in protest. Chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed called the incident “highly unfortunate”, urging MLAs not to reduce the House to “a wrestling ring where blows are exchanged”. Deputy CM Nirmal Singh ( BJP) reluctantly apologised as the CM asked him to stand up and express regret.
“It’s unfortunate, I feel sorry,” he said.
Earlier, as Engineer Rashid, head of the regional Awami Ittehad Party, was assaulted by BJP members, including Rajiv Sharma, Gagan Bhagat and Ravindra Raina, several Opposition MLAs rushed to save him.
Mr Rashid alleged sixeight BJP MLAs were part of the “murderous assault”, and added “There plan was to slaughter me.”
Soon after the J& K Assembly assembled Thursday for the day’s business, a couple of BJP members rose from their seats and attacked Independent member Sheikh Abdur Rashid. They struck him with punches and jabs. In the scuffle that followed, Mr Rashid hit back but was overpowered by BJP legislators. The intervention of Opposition members broke off the scuffle but not before the House faced pandemonium. In their attempt to save Mr Rashid, Opposition members Ali Muhammad Sagar, Waqar Rasool and Hakim Muhammad Yasin gave BJP members a few strong blows. The scenes were reminiscent of the fighting seen inside the Ukrainian Parliament.
The Opposition called attack on Mr Rashid a “murderous assault”. Condemning it, former CM and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tried to draw parallels between the attack on Mr Rashid and the lynching of Mohammed Ikhlaq in Dadri recently. He termed the attack “gunda gardi” which he said was “condemnable and unacceptable”. He said the manner in which BJP MLAs pounced on Mr Rashid indicated the attack was aimed at killing him. “If we had not rescued Rashid, you ( people) would have killed him,” he said. He added: “Our religion doesn’t permit liquor and pork, but that doesn’t give me a licence to stop members of this House who take liquor or pork.” He accused the BJP of killing people in broad daylight, and said: “It ( attack on Mr Rashid) was done in the same way as was done in Dadri.”
Mr Abdullah said the Speaker was the custodian of the House “but we want to know what the chief minister has to say on this most unfortunate incident”. He said Mr Rashid had not done anything illegal, but whatever he did does not give the BJP the right to carry out a murderous attack on him. “We respect and understand the sentiments of other communities, but that does not mean we can resort to violence to settle scores.”
The Opposition walked out, unhappy with the tepid response by the state government. CM Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was quick to condemn the incident, though his deputy Nirmal Singh tried to somehow justify the act by asking: “What about our sentiments?” Voicing rage over Mr Rashid’s “beef party”, he said: “He has hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus. What about that?”
Mr Sayeed, condemning the incident, said such acts were uncalled for. “This is a people’s House and everyone should be listened to.”
Deputy CM Nirmal Singh, asked to tender an apology to the House, got up and said: “Everyone has a right to put forth his viewpoint. Whatever happened on Wednesday evening in the MLAs’ hostel is condemnable.” He added: “We condemn the thrashing of Engineer Rashid. It is unfortunate.” As he was speaking, Opposition members were chanting slogans, to which Mr Singh said: “Are there only your sentiments? Don’t we have sentiments?”
Mr Rashid, speaking to reporters, said that the PDP- BJP coalition was trying to “slaughter” him, and that it was not enough just to say “sorry” for the attack on him.