Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, Oct 21: In an event marking the resumption of legislative activities in Jammu & Kashmir after a gap of more than six years, 86 newly-elected legislators, including 49 first-time members, were administered oath as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) by pro-tem speaker Mubarak Gul on Tuesday.
The oath-taking ceremony, which was held in the Legislative Assembly, was marked by a display of diverse linguistics, with newly elected legislators taking oath in eight languages including Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari, Gojjri, Sheena, Sanskrit, English and Urdu.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, as leader of the House, took the oath first. To the surprise of all, Omar Abdullah took oath in the Kashmiri language. Omar has often faced criticism from his detractors for not being able to speak Kashmiri.
After Omar Abdullah, his ministers took an oath, followed by senior NC legislator Abdul Rahim Rather, who is tipped to be the new speaker of the J&K Legislative Assembly.
In total, 86 MLAs including CM Omar Abdullah took oath while two legislators – Muzaffar Iqbal Khan(MLA Thanamandi) and Dr Narinder Singh (MLA RS Pura) – couldn’t attend the ceremony.
Mubarak Gul (MLA Eidgah) was already administered oath by LG Manoj Sinha.
Omar Abdullah, who won two segments in the assembly, has decided to retain the Ganderbal seat and vacate Budgam.
Apart from Omar Abdullah, Farooq Shah (MLA Tangmarg), Qaiser Jamsheed Lone (MLA Lolab), Irfan Hafiz Lone (MLA Wagoora-Kreeri) and Nizamuddin Bhat ( MLA Bandipora) took oath in Kashmiri.
While Sajad Shafi (MLA Uri) and Javiad Mirchal (MLA Karnah) took the oath in Pahari, Khurshied Ahmed (MLA Gulabgarh) chose the Gojri language to take the oath.
Nazir Gurezi, who won from the Gurez assembly segment, chose to take oath in the Sheena language, which is spoken mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Gurez.
J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra and Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone chose to take oath in English.
According to details, while most of the BJP MLAs took oath in Dogri, the party’s Kashmir tactician and former minister Sunil Sharma chose the Sanskrit language.
Apart from Sharma, Shagun Parihar (MLA Kishtwar) and RS Pathania also took oath in Sanskrit.
Interestingly, all BJP legislators including its 29-year-old female MLA Shagun Parihar, were wearing traditional Dogra turbans.
