Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone today expressed his lack of surprise regarding Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s recent statement supporting the Assembly Speaker’s decision to disallow discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill.
In his media interaction, Lone highlighted what he described as inconsistencies in National Conference’s approach to the controversial legislation.
“They have 50 MLAs, the Speaker belongs to their party—I fail to understand against whom they were protesting against and raising concerns within the Assembly. And now Farooq Abdullah comes out in support of the Speaker. This is a tremendous mockery,” Lone stated.
Furthermore, Lone emphasized that a historic opportunity was missed to either pass a resolution or atleast conduct a meaningful discussion on the contentious Waqf Bill.
“It could have sent a powerful message from the only Muslim-majority province in the country but instead it appeared as though NC was fighting against itself merely to sabotage the discussion and to appease New Delhi,” he remarked.
When questioned about NC’s plans to challenge the Waqf Bill in the Supreme Court, PC President noted that while courts will adjudicate according to legal principles, the emotional appeal that could have been conveyed through the Assembly has been squandered.
“As a sole Muslim-majority province, our collective voice would have carried significant weight, but now even if thousands of individuals approach the court separately, the matter will be decided purely on legal grounds rather than reflecting the sentiments of the people. This situation has arisen because NC wanted to please BJP MLAs,” Lone concluded.
