Srinagar: In a debut address to the Lok Sabha, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the newly elected MP of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference from Srinagar, delivered a pointed critique on Wednesday by condemning the labelling of a Muslim MP as a terrorist and scrutinised the swift passage of the Article 370 abrogation bill.
According to Srinagar based news gathering agency Kashmir Dot Com, the newly elected Member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir first congratulated Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and expressed his views before him.
”Congratulations on being elected Speaker again. After this, I request you that from now on, you belong neither to BJP, nor Congress, nor Samajwadi Party. From today onwards, your only party should be the Constitution of India. I hope that from today onwards, you will be its protector,” MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency said.
“In this House, which is known as the largest assembly of democracy, there will be examples of democracy. You will be remembered whether you forced the ruling party to listen to the opposition or silenced the opposition. You will be reminded how you remained silent when a Muslim MP elected by the people was called a terrorist. If an MP elected by the people can be called a terrorist in this House, then those Muslims can also be called terrorists on the streets,” Mehdi further said.
Lok Sabha Speaker quieted Aha Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and encouraged the proceedings of the House, stating that today is the first day of this session. “Look at the tenure, then comment”
Aga further said,“ You’ll be remembered when the Bill of abrogation of Article 370 in J&K was placed before this House within a minute and then subsequently passed in 30 minutes”. To which Speaker replied, “He doesn’t have the knowledge that the bill was debated for nine and a half long hours,”.
Pertinently, MP Mehdi from the National Conference reached Parliament after defeating Wahid Para of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Mohammad Ashraf Mir of his party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He took oath in his mother tongue, Kashmiri, on Monday, demonstrating Kashmir’s linguistic diversity. (KDC)
