Single Muslim-majority province in India fails to condemn Waqf Bill: Sajad Lone

“The single Muslim-majority province in India failed to collectively condemn the Waqf Bill and instead allowed three bills on statehood to lapse. The behaviour of NC leadership is also contradictory. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah went on a morning walk with Union Minister Kiran Rijiju, the one who presented the Bill in Parliament. I fail to understand this judge, jury, and executioner role of NC,” said Handwara MLA.

Lone also questioned how the NC could simultaneously protest against and socialise with the proponents of the Bill. In what he characterised as the most audacious snub to Muslims all across the country, Lone expressed dismay that the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister of the only Muslim-majority province in India is seen in the company of a Union Minister who presented this Bill in Parliament. He also raised serious questions about the ruling party NC’s commitment to both opposing the contentious Waqf Bill and pursuing the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

Lone dissected what he described as the contradictory actions of the NC, questioning the authenticity of their opposition to the Waqf Bill while highlighting procedural inconsistencies in their approach. “If NC’s song-and-dance performance in the Assembly is not theatre - why is NC not bringing a no-confidence motion against its own Speaker for disallowing their adjournment motion?” Lone asked, drawing attention to the fact that the Speaker who rejected the NC’s motion belongs to their own party.

On the procedural front, Lone provided clarification, saying: “Let me tell my friends in NC that an adjournment motion is a censure motion against the government. It is brought to discuss the failures of the government. You cannot bring an adjournment motion on the Waqf Bill.” He elaborated on appropriate legislative mechanisms, stating, “The only legislative device to condemn the move was a resolution. It was the only tool available to us to express our collective disapproval of this law.”

He said that the most concerning issue is the revelation that three resolutions seeking restoration of statehood lapsed on Monday. He drew parallels to a similar situation in 2013 when a resolution brought on Afzal Guru lapsed when the NC Speaker adjourned the House after Congress, then an ally of the NC-led government, created a pandemonium out of the blue. “So was this song and dance about the Waqf, or about stalling and delaying statehood resolutions?” he asked.