New Delhi/Srinagar, June 26: In his debut address to the Lok Sabha, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the newly elected Member of Parliament (MP) from Srinagar representing the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, delivered a pointed critique on Wednesday. He condemned the labelling of a Muslim MP as a terrorist and scrutinized the swift passage of the Article 370 abrogation bill.
Mehdi began his speech by congratulating Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on his re-election, and expressed his expectations for the Speaker’s role moving forward. “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,” he stated.
He then addressed the treatment of a Muslim MP in the House. “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 asserted.
In response, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged the MP to consider the long-term view of the proceedings and remarked that it was only the first day of the session.
Mehdi also criticized the rapid manner in which the Article 370 abrogation bill was passed. “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,” he said. The Speaker retorted, “He doesn’t have the knowledge that the bill was debated for nine and a half long hours.”
Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi secured his parliamentary seat by defeating Wahid Para of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Mohammad Ashraf Mir of his own party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Demonstrating the linguistic diversity of Kashmir, he took his oath in his mother tongue, Kashmiri, on Monday.
