Tough to convince a monkey that “Honey” is sweeter than “Banana”; People want their genuine issues to be resolved in the J&K assembly, not religious slogans

Tough to convince a monkey that “Honey” is sweeter than “Banana”; People want their genuine issues to be resolved in the J&K assembly, not religious slogans

SALIL RAINA

(POONCH TODAY NEWS)

JAMMU: After the abrogation of temporary articles 370 and 35-A, assembly elections were held peacefully and successfully in the UT of J&K after a decade, and people were optimistic about genuine issues to be resolved through an elected government, but some unparliamentary scenes in the assembly from some legislators have diminished the credibility of the highest institution of democracy in the J&K UT.

Just to politicize some important issues, religious slogans were raised inside the assembly, and such an unfortunate episode murdered the sentiments of the common man, who was having high hopes for their elected legislators. The house has some big and experienced names who have carved out a niche for themselves in the political arena of the nation, but some legislators in a few numbers due to their unparliamentary behavior have entered the history books as foul players as they diminished the legacy of the house with their bad behavior, which was not in the public interest. In any legislative assembly or parliament of the country, any issue can be discussed or raised through decent behavior, but the rude and unparliamentary behavior of some legislators has forced the political pundits to think that it’s tough to convince a monkey (foul player) that honey (decent behavior) is sweeter than a banana (routine behavior) when it comes to following legislative protocol properly. In a house where a third-generation legislator and a second-time Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, is a member, a second-generation minister, Satish Sharma, is there, plus a host of other experienced legislators and ministers like Ms. Sakina Itoo, Ali Mohd Sagar, speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, and LOP Sunil Sharma, R.S. Pathania, second-generation and second-time MLA Ajaz Jan, Balwant Mankotia, Tariq Hamid Karra, Mohd Yousaf Tarigami, Sham Lal Sharma, and likewise many big names, but the immature behavior of some legislators has hurt the sentiments of the experienced members of the house in general and people of J&K in particular. In a democracy, criticism inside any legislature or parliament should be decent to set an example for the entire country and the world, but the unfortunate issue of the J&K UT assembly has caught the attention of the whole country and the world, as some immature members have demolished the integrity, sanctity, and golden history of the J&K assembly. People of J&K want their issues to be resolved, and it’s the prime responsibility of the legislators and ministers to work in the public interest. Although the government is facing a lack of coordination with the bureaucracy due to the absence of business rules that have not been approved by the LG J&K yet, the people of J&K are suffering from various issues that were not addressed for years because there was no assembly in J&K after the PDP-BJP government fell in 2018. People of all the districts of the J&K UT have some major issues that require the attention of the J&K government, but if the elected legislators indulge in such unparliamentary behavior in the assembly, then it’s the common man who suffers, not the legislators. The elected government and the opposition need to work together to solve the people’s issues of every region on priority, as just chanting religious slogans in the assembly to get social media attention will not serve any purpose. There are hundreds of public issues on the ground that require the immediate attention of the government, and it would be better if the elected government and the opposition strengthened the institution of democracy in J&K and did not lower the integrity of the J&K legislative assembly by way of hooliganism.