J&K Assembly sees protests after BJP leader calls July 13 martyrs traitors Speaker expunges remarks BJP stages walkout opposition demands holiday restoration
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes and protests by both ruling and opposition members excluding BJP after Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma called the Kashmiri martyrs of July 13 “traitors”.
Amid uproar and responding to a demand of the angry members, Speaker Abdur Rahim Rather ordered for expunction of Mr. Sharma's “derogatory” remarks. He ruled, “I expunge the words which are derogatory for the martyrs from the record of the House,” prompting Mr. Sharma and other BJP members to stage a walkout from the House.
Earlier People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member Waheed ur Rehman Parra had, while speaking during the discussion on Motion of Thanks to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s address to the budget session of the Assembly, demanded that the official holidays on the Kashmir Martyrs' Day (July 13) and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah's birth anniversary (December 5) cancelled by the Lt. Governor's administration post-August 5, 2019 should be reinstated.
“The martyrs of July 13 sacrificed their lives for democracy. It is because of them that we are here in this house today. July 13 is the most precious day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, it is a day against autocracy and monarchy. No doubt they were Kashmir Muslims, but they laid down their lives so that democracy dawned on the entire Jammu and Kashmir and everyone including the Hindus of Jammu could enjoy its fruits,” Mr. Para had said. He had pleaded, “We should rise above the political affiliations. I request the BJP members also to join us and let us all together pass a resolution declaring these two significant days as state holidays”.
However, while reacting to his assertions, Mr. Sharma said, “They were not martyrs but traitors”. His remarks sparked across-the-board protests from the Treasury benches as well the Congress and other political parties. They demanded that the remarks be expunged from the records of the House. “His remarks were humiliating and divisive and should be withdrawn if he shows that kind of decency or expunged from the records,” demanded Congress MLA Nizamuddin Bhat. National Conference’s Nazir Ahmed Khan Gurezi turning to Mr. Sharma said, “It is because of those martyrs that you are sitting in this chair today.” CPIM’s Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami pleaded, “The members of this House should respect each other’s sentiments. The derogatory remarks used by the BJP member must be expunged.”
Later while speaking to reporters Mr. Sharma said that Maharaja Hari Singh was a true democrat and a legitimate and liberal ruler of the erstwhile state of J&K “who gave us hospitals, schools, colleges, playgrounds and other life facilities” and the so-called martyrs of July 13 who had revolted against him were traitors. “Those killed on July 13 had set a Hindu area on fire first and then started resistance against Maharaja’s rule. These people were made martyrs by the Congress party, but under Narendra Modi rule they cannot be considered as martyrs,” he added.
The BJP leader’s remarks have sparked an outrage by various political parties in the Kashmir Valley. The region’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq took to microblogging site ‘X’ to lodge his protest. He said, “Strongly condemn the outrageous remarks by a BJP member in assembly with regard to the martyrs of 13th July 1931, who were killed in cold blood for standing up for the rights and dignity of the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir. These martyrs revered by one and all in J&K, are part of our collective memory of the great sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir for their rights, and any attempt to malign them will be firmly resisted”.
On July 13, 1931, as many as 22 Kashmiri Muslims were killed in firing by the Maharaja's army outside Srinagar’s central prison where an in-camera trial of Abdul Qadeer Khan, a non-local chef with a British traveller accused of treason, was being held. July 13 is observed as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) since.
Following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of J&K in August 2019, the Lieutenant Governor-led administration cancelled the official holidays on July 13 and December 5, the birth anniversary of legendary Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. The move, however, came under severe criticism by various regional political parties including the NC and PDP.
During the J&K Assembly elections held in September-October last year, the NC had promised that if voted to power the party would restore these public holidays. However, the Omar Abdullah government came across the most embarrassing moment since its taking the charge in October last as these official holidays failed to make a comeback which is repugnant to the ruling National Conference (NC)’s poll promise.
In spite of the NC’s entreaty and election promise to revisit the list of the holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the official (holidays’) calendar for 2025 issued by the J&K General Administration Department on December 30 did not include December 5 or July 13. Soon many people took to social media platforms to ask if the NC had surrendered to the whims of the BJP government at the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor appointed by it. A few called chief minister Mr. Abdullah a ‘toothless tiger’.
