NC, BJP join hands in J&K House to vote out PDP's 'anti-bulldozer' land bill

SRINAGAR: J&K CM Omar Abdullah 's National Conference and BJP teamed up in the assembly for the first time Tuesday to vote out PDP 's proposed " anti-bulldozer bill " that seeks to grant ownership rights to locals occupying illegal properties on state-owned land for over 20 years.

Omar, already facing allegations about last Friday's Rajya Sabha election being "a fixed match" after BJP won one of the four seats at stake, received a rare shout-out from the saffron party later for rejecting PDP's land bill "in national interest".

"How can this bill be justified when it seeks to legitimise illegal constructions on state land?" Omar said in the House before speaker Abdul Rahim Rather put the bill to vote. "If it is passed, it would mean that anyone who builds a house on state land tomorrow can claim it as their own. That is simply unacceptable," he added.

The rebuff came less than a week after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti declared at a presser that her party had agreed to support NC in the Rajya Sabha election on the condition that the governing party would back its J&K (Regularisation and Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Public Land) Bill.

"BJP's threat to block the passage of PDP's land regularisation (anti-bulldozer) bill, which they branded the 'land jihad bill', was fulfilled today," Mehbooba wrote on X after the move was voted out. "The chief minister, who had earlier assured that any pro-people initiative from PDP would face no obstacles under his leadership, has once again reneged on his word. This marks yet another U-turn added to his growing list of unfulfilled guarantees and promises."

The draft of the rejected bill defines "residents" as those holding permanent resident certificates, which were replaced with domicile certificates after the abrogation of Article 370. PDP projects the bill as one meant to safeguard the rights of J&K residents who are being slapped with eviction notices.

CM Omar harked back to the defunct Roshni Act being challenged in court and defeated despite what he said was a well-intentioned move to "provide relief to people who had acquired legal rights over land".

"Here, this bill is justifying illegal encroachment," he said, urging PDP member Waheed Parra to withdraw it immediately.

Parra refused to do so, accusing Omar of siding with BJP and against the interest of those living in J&K. "BJP calls this bill 'land jihad', and now you are backing away from it? You should debate the bill; if there are any loopholes, we can fix them," he said.

When the PDP legislator told Omar that "even your relatives have suffered on account of this", alluding to the controversy surrounding Hotel Nedous in Gulmarg, the CM stood up to clarify that his kin had "a rightful lease over the land".

"But I will not bring a bill to protect my relatives" Omar said. "You are bringing religion and politics into this. You should not compare land for the landless with this bill."

BJP MLA Sunil Sharma applauded and thanked the CM for taking what he said was a decisive step against "a notorious bill" to regularise encroachment. "Alongside terrorism, large-scale encroachment took place with the support of previous govts in J&K," he said.

Parra told reporters outside the assembly later that his party was only voicing "concerns about land ownership and demographic changes since the abrogation of Article 370".