After 40-minute commotion, Speaker retracts on remarks, Cong still petitions Governor

JAMMU: After 40-minute pandemonium in Legislative Assembly, nearly washing out the Question Hour, Speaker Kavinder Gupta took his controversial words back prompting the Congress Legislature Party leader to thank him for magnanimity.
Despite this amicable resolution of crisis triggered by words wrongly heard and wrongly interpreted yesterday, the Congress leaders still went ahead to complain against him before the Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan.
Earlier in the morning, amid the uproar and protests which continued for more than 40 minutes, the speaker said, "If I have heard anything in wrong connotation I take my words back." On this, Jora thanked the Speaker for showing magnanimity by taking back his words and restoring order in the House.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Congress MLAs comprising Nawang Rigzin Jora, G.M. Saroori, Ajaz Ahmad Khan and Vikar Rsool Wani visited the Raj Bhawan and briefed the Governor about the issues before the ongoing Assembly Session and alleged that the Speaker was not following an equitable approach in conducting the Assembly's business.
The Assembly in the morning witnessed uproarious scenes as the opposition, mainly Congress, cornered the Speaker over his remarks on slogans raised yesterday by Congress MLAs.
Speaker Kavinder Gupta had said the opposition had lowered the prestige of the House by raising anti-national slogans of "Kashmir banega Pakistan (Kashmir will become Pakistan)" yesterday.
Strongly denying the charge, the opposition members disrupted the question hour by resorting to sloganeering while some of them trooped into the Well of the House asking the Speaker to take back his remarks.
Congress Legislative Party leader Nawang Rigzin Jora denied that any "anti-national" slogans were raised or unparliamentary language used against the Speaker.
Jora, however, said that the party had accused Gupta of being communal and an RSS man.
CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami said no member in the House had resorted to such slogans, adding that such remarks should not have come from the Chair. He also requested the Speaker to take back his remarks.
Jora had yesterday said the Congress MLAs were raising slogans like "PDP ka kya farman, Kashmir banega kabristan (what is PDP's call, Kashmir should become a graveyard)" and "PDP ki kya pehachan, Kashmir banega Nagpur (what is PDP's identity, Kashmir will become Nagpur, a reference to RSS headquarters)".
He had said these remarks were misinterpreted by the Speaker, while threatening to move a no-confidence motion against him along with other opposition parties.
Intervening in the house, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said the opposition members should not raise any question mark on the Chair by using certain words. "The opposition should not say so," he said, requesting the Speaker to give a proper ruling and resolve the issue. At was at the juncture that the Speaker 'took back his words' and Congress accepted it.
The Congress delegation that called on the Governor also sought his intervention in advising State Government for safeguarding life and property of minorities; urgent punitive action against the Medical College teacher who has molested an MBBS student, and the State Government following the law in reservations in promotions being provided to SC, ST and others.
The delegation also expressed their concern about the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2016.