Jammu, Mar 25 : Amid unruly scenes and sloganeering, BJP legislators on Tuesday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, accusing the Omar Abdullah-led government of neglecting the plight of protesting daily-wagers.
The ruckus began after the Question Hour when Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma raised the issue of the ongoing strike by daily-wagers, who have been demanding the regularisation of their services. The workers, mostly employed by the Jal Shakti (PHE) department, have been on strike for several days, leading to a severe water crisis in the region.
Sharma criticised the government for failing to respond to the issue despite repeated mentions in the House.
“Since yesterday, I have been raising the issue of the daily wagers’ strike and the water crisis caused by it. But the government has failed to respond. The government seems to be behaving in an arrogant manner and is turning a blind eye to the workers’ plight,” he said, adding that the daily-wagers had been protesting for their wages and regularisation but had received no concrete solution from the government.
As the debate heated up, BJP MLAs accused the government of being insensitive to the daily-wagers’ concerns. Meanwhile, members of the ruling National Conference (NC) and AAP MLA Mehraj Malik also raised slogans, accusing the BJP of failing to resolve the issue during their 10 years rule while referring to the PDP-BJP coalition government and the President’s rule that was imposed after the BJP withdrew support.
The chaos continued as Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather attempted to restore order, but the verbal clashes only intensified.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, in response, accused the BJP of playing “double politics” on the issue. “The chief minister has already formed a committee to address the concerns of the daily-wagers,” Choudhary said. “The BJP failed to address this issue during their tenure. Now, the NC-led government is taking steps to resolve it.”
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary also accused BJP MLAs of orchestrating protests to attract media attention, leading to a heated exchange between the treasury and opposition benches.
The speaker then announced that the CM would make a statement on the issue, “The House is in action today. It was peaceful until now. If we were not interested in resolving their issue, we would not have formed the committee. We are surprised that protests are taking place even after the committee’s formation,” he told the House.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, during the pandemonium, remained calm and later countered the opposition’s claims.
Pointing towards senior BJP legislator Sham Lal Sharma, he questioned him why he did not regularize the daily wagers when he himself was the PHE minister.
“What did you do for the daily-wagers when you were in power?” Abdullah asked, and added that the BJP had never prioritised the issue.
Abdullah went on to reassure the Assembly that a committee had been formed under the chief secretary to resolve the issue. He also urged the protesting workers to call off their strike and allow the committee time to submit its recommendations. “If we weren’t serious, we wouldn’t have set up this committee. I appeal to the daily-wagers to end their strike and give us the chance to resolve the issue,” Abdullah added.
Reacting to the BJP’s slogan of “Daily-wagers ke saath insaaf karo,” Abdullah shot back, “At least you admit that injustice has been done to them.”
Amid the din, all 28 BJP MLAs walked out.
Speaking outside the Assembly, LoP Sunil Sharma reiterated that the BJP would hold a press conference with documents and evidence to substantiate their claims regarding the government’s mishandling of the daily-wagers’ issue.
Meanwhile, outside the Assembly, protests by the daily-wagers continued. Hundreds of workers attempted to march toward the civil secretariat for the fifth consecutive day. However, they were met with police resistance, with authorities resorting to mild lathi charges to disperse the crowd. Despite this, the workers staged a sit-in at Shalimar Chowk, demanding the release of their wages and a permanent resolution to their regularisation.
The daily-wagers’ strike has already triggered a water crisis in the region, as many workers employed by the Jal Shakti department are responsible for water supply and related services. According to a 2018 estimate, there were approximately 61,000 daily-wagers employed across various government departments in Jammu and Kashmir.
