Amid uproar, BJP’s Randhawa retracts remark dubbing Kashmir Muslims as ‘land grabbers’

Jammu, Feb 17: The J&K Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed uproarious scenes over remarks made by BJP legislator Vikram Randhawa in the House on February 13, allegedly dubbing “Kashmiri Muslims as land grabbers.”

The House continued to witness noisy protests until the MLA finally retracted his remarks.

Immediately after Question Hour, the issue was raised by MLA Langate Sheikh Khursheed and Congress MLA Irfan Hafeez Lone. Both members stood up holding papers and posters in their hands.

Khursheed had earlier attempted to raise the issue as soon as the House assembled, but the Chair did not allow him to interrupt Question Hour.

“He (Randhawa) had accused Kashmiris of land-grabbing. Sir, he himself is a land-grabber,” Khursheed alleged while addressing the Chair.

National Conference (NC) MLAs also joined the protest, raising slogans of “Chor Machaye Shor.”

The protesting members demanded an apology from Randhawa for allegedly defaming Kashmiris.

“Earlier, they (BJP) had abused Pir Panchal, and now they are abusing Kashmiris,” NC’s Aijaz Jan said as his party colleagues continued sloganeering.

Randhawa sought to defend himself, reiterating that he had raised a constituency-specific issue based on a reply given by the Minister on behalf of the Chief Minister, who holds the Housing and Urban Development portfolio.

According to Randhawa, the reply stated that over 688 kanals of land had been encroached upon and that 90 percent of it was illegally occupied by people from a specific region.

“Sir, I never targeted any particular community. I had mentioned only a region,” Randhawa said. However, NC, Congress members, and Khursheed continued protesting and demanding an apology.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary intervened, stating that the issue of encroachment was not restricted to JDA land but also related to state, custodian, auqaf, forest, and defence lands.

Khursheed, Irfan Hafeez Lone, and a few NC members moved to the front row to register their protest, maintaining that Randhawa had explicitly mentioned “Kashmiri Muslims.”

BJP MLA Sham Sharma said the issue had become very personal.
“The MLA should be allowed to clarify his stance as allegations were levelled against him in the House. The issue is serious and is reflected in the reply to my question,” he said while quoting statistics from the official response.

Qaiser Jamsheed Lone also sought Randhawa’s apology for allegedly defaming Kashmiri Muslims and claimed that a former Deputy Chief Minister had also grabbed land.

Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather again gave Randhawa time to clarify his position. Randhawa stated that his own land issue had been settled in 2021 with the JDA.

The Deputy Chief Minister urged Randhawa to apologise, saying he, like Randhawa, belonged to a community that could never be communal. He also recalled Randhawa’s father, late Choudhary Piara Singh, a former MLA, as a respected leader of the community.

“J&K belongs to all. Land encroachers have no religion,” Choudhary said.

Responding to this, Randhawa stated, “Sir, I did not use community-specific words. Please check the record. If it is there, I will retract it.”

His statement helped pacify the agitating members, who then returned to their seats.

As some members attempted to press further points, the Speaker intervened, saying, “I will check the record and, if the remark is there, I will expunge it.”