SRINAGAR: People’s Conference President and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone has launched a blistering attack on the National Conference (NC), accusing it of deliberately sabotaging a crucial discussion on the Waqf bill during the concluding days of the recently concluded Assembly session.
In a strongly worded statement shared on X, Lone alleged that the NC — despite enjoying a brute majority — engaged in deliberate disruption inside the Assembly, staging noisy protests and unruly scenes to prevent meaningful debate on the bill. He accused NC members of playing a “dual role” of both ruling party and opposition, creating a situation that, according to him, “even the British could not invent.”
The model of democracy that we are following is the British Model.
The British with all their expertise couldn’t invent a situation where a party can simultaneously be the ruling party and the opposition party. The NC attempted that impossible feat over the last 3 days of…
— Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) April 11, 2025
“They have a brute majority. More than fifty of them held the entire Assembly to ransom. An ugly blend of cacophony and cantankerousness ensured that the Assembly was repeatedly adjourned,” Lone said.
Drawing a vivid and scathing metaphor, Lone described the scenes in the House as resembling a “Nursery school,” with MLAs “jumping around, climbing tables,” and indulging in what he called a “free for all.”
He painted the Speaker — himself an NC member — as an “unworried principal” who appeared fully aware of the orchestrated chaos, occasionally “stretching his neck” and “smiling” before routinely announcing adjournments. “He was bad at pretending. He pretended to be lost, which he never was,” Lone remarked.
Lone claimed that NC brought in an adjournment motion on the Waqf issue but that the Speaker refused to allow any discussion, citing the matter as sub judice. In response, a group of Kashmir-based opposition members, including Lone’s People’s Conference, proposed a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. However, according to Lone, the same NC members who had demanded discussion refused to support the motion.
He argued that the NC, by its legislative majority, had both the power and responsibility to facilitate a serious conversation on the bill, which has raised concerns across the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir. “Is this majority only to enjoy power? Is this majority not to be used when a powerful message has to be sent — that we are Muslims and will not accept any interference in our religious affairs?” he asked.
Describing the NC’s actions as “the mother of all betrayals,” Lone said the party used disruption and “noise as a weapon” to camouflage its decision to block debate on the Waqf bill. “NC sabotaged the Waqf discussion and used noise and bedlam to camouflage the mother of all betrayals — THE WAKF BETRAYAL,” he declared.
In his closing appeal, Lone lamented that a historic opportunity for Kashmir’s Assembly to stand with Muslims across the country had been lost. “That milestone in history… is lost for all times to come,” he said.
The National Conference has not yet issued a formal response to Lone’s allegations.
