Srinagar

The assembly was adjourned after opposition raised the issue of unprecedented regulation of the media in covering the special session on GST. NC, Congress and other opposition parties said that they will be part of any proceeding in which media will be deliberately kept away.

On Speaker Kavinder Gupta’s directions, the police prevented the entry of media carrying cell phones, camera, and even computers. It created a situation that media gallery was literally deserted. Watching the situation that most of the media persons failed to get into the assembly, those who had managed to get in the assembly decided against staying in the assembly.

Media outside the assembly after boycotting the special session

Within minutes after the small media contingent moved out of the assembly, the opposition was on its feet. A few minutes later, a pandemonium broke out, following which the Speaker adjourned the house.

Earlier as the session started, the opposition across the party lines was up in protest. They were shouting slogans against the GST and accused the treasury benches of being dalals of Delhi. They said they will not allow the GST to happen in the state.

The listed assembly business included introduction of the resolution that Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu is supposed to lay on the table. “This House resolves that the government of J&K may give consent to the adoption of the GST regime by application of relevant amendments made to the Constitution of India in a modified manner to safeguard the existing special constitutional position of J&K in the Union of India and legislative powers under the constitution of J&K,; the resolution reads.

Earlier the police stopped entry of entire electronic media as those nt carrying an camera were subjected to massive frisking at multiple security check-in in and around the assembly. The cops actually required personal identification of the media persons before they were permitted in. This was despite the formal passes that the assembly secretariat had issued to them. Not a single media vehicle was permitted to enter the premises as it used to be.

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