Day 2: J-K Legislative Assembly begins with tribute to 57 late leaders

Srinagar, Nov 05: The Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly convened on Tuesday on the second day to announce the names of the panel of chairmen of the house and make obituary references of the leaders of the house who passed away during the past years.

The session began with Speaker paying respects to the late leaders.

As per the list of the business issued by the Assembly Secretariat, the Speaker made references to the demise of former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Speaker of Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Jagmohan Malhotra, former Union Minister Prof Chaman Lal Gupta.

Congress legislator Nizamuddin Bhat while speaking during the obituary references in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly remembered BJP leader Devender Rana who passed away last week.

“We took oath together. He approached me when he saw me in canteen. He said that he felt very good to see me in elected members,” Bhat said.

Rana, he added, was “rich in intellect”.

Devender Rana, who won his election from Nagrota constituency, breathed his last at a hospital in Faridabad last week. His demise was widely condoled by political leaders across the political spectrum.

Bhat also paid tributes to Ghulam Qadir Bedar from Pattan.

Balwant Singh Mankotia remembered Bhim Singh, saying he was his uncle and ‘guru’. Mankotia said that Bhim Singh was a multifaceted personality who had played a significant role in shaping J&K politics.

The reference will be made on former Union Minister P Namgyal, former Chairman Legislative Council Abdul Rashid Dar, former ministers including Mian Bashir Ahmad, Madan Lal Sharma, Muhammad Sharif Niaz, Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Thakur Randhir Singh, Abdul Gani Mir, Govind Ram, Puran Singh, Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan, Togdan Rimpoche, Ghulam Qadir Mir, Qazi Muhammad Afzal, and Devender Singh Rana.

The other names include former Members of Constituent Assembly, Prof Bhim Singh, Krishan Dev Sethi, former MLAs Abdul Aziz Parray, Muhammad Yasin Shah, Rachpal Singh, Peer Abdul Gani Shah, Choudhary Bashir Ahmad Naz, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Muhammad Shafi Khan, Abdul Gani Naseem, Abdul Wahid Shan, Ghulam Qadir Bhat (Bedar), Abdul Aziz Parray, Ghulam Rasool Bahar, Abdul, Razak Wagay, Thakur Diwakar Singh, Rajesh Gupta, Som Nath, Prakash Sharma, Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, and Ghulam Rasool Sofi. Former MLCs whose reference would be made are Choudhary Fateh Muhammad, Abdul Rehman Badana, Habibullah Bhat, Thakur Kashmira Singh, Yashpal Sharma, Raja Nasir Khan, Wali Muhammad Bhagwan, Haji Ali Muhammad Bhat, Abdul Aziz Wani, Chuni Lal Dhiman, Trilochan Singh Wazir, Aga Syed Jamal, Haji Muhammad Sultan, Gulzar Ahmad Khatana, Muhammad Aslam, and Mirza Muhammad Yaqoob.