BJP legislators celebrating the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in the Assembly on Friday got a gentle reminder from chief minister Omar Abdullah about how Jammu and not Kashmir would face the consequences of the move.

Omar’s verbal duel with the BJP followed repeated claims by Opposition MLAs, mainly leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma, that the scrapping of Article 370 had put Jammu and Kashmir on a par with other states.

“They talk about equality, say big things happened on August 5 (2019) and that it brought us on a par (with other states). We are demanding that equality (only). If you feel today this Assembly is like other (state) Assemblies, then we have nothing to say. Put your hands on your hearts. Are we really equal to our neighbouring states?” Omar asked.

“That barabri (equality) is nowhere,” he added.

The debate escalated when Sharma defended the allocation of land to non-locals for industrial projects.

The chief minister countered him by citing the example of Himachal Pradesh.

“Why don’t you give this lesson to neighbouring states? Tell me, how difficult it is to open a unit in Himachal. How much reservation do you have there for locals?” Omar said, claiming 70 per cent of jobs in the state were reserved for locals.

He said a Sri Lankan cricketer was given land in Kathua in Jammu but he withdrew, apparently following the uproar it triggered in the Assembly. “He was not coming to Kashmir but to Jammu. We have said from day one that in Kashmir we don’t have so much threat. They will have to come to Kashmir via Jammu,” Omar said.

Omar asked the Opposition to go through the history. He said Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra ruler, had introduced the state subject laws to protect the people of Jammu from Punjab investors in 1927 and not Kashmiris.

“It is easy to talk about equality. It is not there. We have been sold,” he said.

The BJP MLAs also attacked the ruling party for allegedly disrespecting the Maharaja’s legacy. Rebuffing the allegations, Omar said: “When you have nothing to say, you raise such allegations.”

He said the BJP-led government at the Centre changed the very foundations of the Dogra-ruled state. “The state subject laws were enacted by the Maharaja. You changed that,” he added.

Omar said Jammu and Kashmir had its own penal code named after Dogra ruler Ranbir Singh. “But today, you are no longer practising under the Ranbir Penal Code. Are we disrespecting (them) or you?” he said.