Ruckus in J&K House as Oppn protests over beef

Opposition protests over  beef ban and other issues on Monday rocked the J&K Assembly with banner-waving MLAs of the National conference (NC) and Congress storming into the well, climbing tables and clashing with marshals, leaving a lawmaker and a security staff injured.

The NC raised the issue of beef ban in both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, with its leader Omar Abdullah questioning why the PDP-BJP government approached the Supreme Court when the legislature is “free” to scrap the 1932 provision in the Ranbir Penal Code, prohibiting cow slaughter.

The protests, which led to adjournment of both the Houses for the day, started after the chair in the Assembly and the Council disallowed motions moved by NC seeking suspension of Question Hour over beef ban issue and also by Congress for a discussion on rehabilitation of flood victims and imposition of service tax on helicopter services for Vaishnodevi pilgrims.

As Speaker Kavinder Gupta continued with the business of the House, <g data-gr-id="16">several opposition</g> MLAs jumped into the well and raised banners which read ‘Stop exploiting flood victims’ and ‘Revoke tax on religious pilgrims’.