Srinagar: The opening day of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly’s autumn session saw a heated exchange between the ruling National Conference (NC) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators during obituary references, after the name of former governor Satya Pal Malik came up.
Malik — the 10th and last governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, who passed away in August this year — became the centre of a row when NC MLA Bashir Veeri described his role in the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 as “controversial.” BJP leader Sham Lal Sharma immediately objected and urged that Veeri’s remarks be struck from the record.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather asked Veeri to maintain respect for the deceased but declined Sharma’s request to expunge the comments.
Congress legislative party leader G.A. Mir remembered Malik as an outspoken and popular leader. “He might have benefitted from the abrogation of Article 370, but he also suffered for speaking the truth in his later years,” Mir said.
PDP MLA Rafiq Naik also urged restraint while discussing the late governor. “We may have had our differences, but since he is no longer with us, we should speak only good of him,” he said. Naik further raised the issue of AAP MLA Mehraj Malik’s recent detention under the Public Safety Act, prompting the Speaker to interject that obituary references should only concern the deceased.
CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami said that paying tributes should not preclude reflection. “Respect apart, a person who held public responsibility should be assessed for his actions. Criticism, when done with decency, is also a part of accountability,” he remarked.
Awami Ittehad Party MLA Sheikh Khursheed said that constructive criticism was valid, while also praising Malik as an honest politician who had later championed farmers’ issues.
BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa, calling August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was revoked, a “historic day,” defended Malik’s legacy. “A common man cannot be appointed governor of five states. The BJP recognized his talent. It is also a coincidence that he passed away on August 5 this year,” Randhawa said, drawing protests from NC members.
During his long political career, Satya Pal Malik served as governor of Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, and Meghalaya.
