Yogesh
Jammu, Mar 8: MLA Zadibal and National Conference leader Tanvir Sadiq on Saturday condemned the shooting of a web series in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
Speaking during the discussion on Budget-2025 presented on Friday by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tanvir, a close aide of the CM said, “It’s unfortunate that the LG administration had allowed the assembly floor to be turned into a filmi akhada (film arena).”
Tanvir recalled the time when he would accompany his father, late Sadiq Ali (former MLA Zadibal), and watch the proceedings from the gallery. “This was the most powerful assembly in the entire country, but what have you made of it? You allowed film actors to shoot scenes here and turned this into a film studio. You have violated the sanctity of this house. You [BJP] had a notion that the assembly would never function again in Jammu and Kashmir, which was the reason for such actions. But the Supreme Court intervened, and we had elections,” Tanvir said.
The MLA Zadibal was referring to the OTT serial Maharani, a Hindi-language drama series created by Subhash Kapoor and starring Huma Qureshi. The political multi-season series was inspired by events in Bihar in the 1990s when Lalu Prasad Yadav made his homemaker wife, Rabri Devi, his successor. The shoot began in April 2021, with the assembly complex and its surroundings illuminated by big lights, trunks carrying costumes and other accessories for the artists and crew, makeup vans, generators, and more. Around 100 local artists from the theatre and cultural departments were roped in for the web series.
While terming the budget-2025 presented by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as historic, Tanvir said, “After a gap of more than seven years a democratically elected government prepared and presented a pro-people budget.”
Taking a dig at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanvir said, “When the PDP was ruling Jammu and Kashmir, it created a deficit of more than Rs 18000 crores and nothing was done for the education sector of the erstwhile state.”
Taking a jibe at PDP’ president Mehbooba Mufti’s infamous “toffee and milk” remark made during the 2016 unrest when she was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “ We will bring toffee and milk to people’s homes so that no person is killed in the same of such entities.”
