Srinagar, Oct. 24 -- Heated exchanges were witnessed during obituary references on the opening day of the J&K assembly's autumn session on Thursday as MLAs from the ruling party (National Conference) and the opposition BJP traded barbs over the role of ex-governor (late) Satya Pal Malik in the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The slugfest continued when it came to former BJP MLC Ramesh Arora. Malik was the last governor of the erstwhile state of J&K. He passed away in August this year. As National Conference (NC) MLA Bashir Veeri termed Malik's role controversial in an apparent reference to the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, BJP member Sham Lal Sharma demanded the remarks be expunged. "While his (Malik's) personal career was bright, his role as governor in J&K was controversial," Veeri said. BJP member Sham Lal Sharma termed Veeri's remarks as derogatory. "Has there been any such precedent in this assembly that we used such derogatory remarks during obituary references?" he asked.Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, while asking Veeri to respect the deceased, did not accept Sharma's demand to expunge the NC MLA's remarks. BJP leader Vikram Randhawa said that Malik played an important role in the future of J&K. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, "When history will be written, everyone will be talked about. So, there would also be a paragraph on Malik. We may differ in views but we would like to believe that whatever he did was with the intention of doing good." Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary said that history would judge Satya Pal Malik. He also said that he was not given a proper farewell when he died. NC leader Nazir Gurezi said, "They didn't give him the respect in death he deserved." Congress legislative party leader GA Mir, however, called Malik a good leader, who was "outspoken" and "popular". PDP MLA Rafiq Naik said while there may be differences with Malik, "we should not speak negatively while paying tributes to the deceased". Regarding ex-BJP MLC Ramesh Arora, Veeri said, "Ideologically, he was a foot soldier of the BJP and the RSS. He belonged to that organisation which had a communal tinge, but Arora was secular." BJP members, including Basoli MLA Darshan Kumar, said this remark should also be expunged. The speaker urged Veeri to make proper use of words. BJP MLA and leader of opposition Sunil Sharma said the house should refrain from saying things which hurt the feelings of deceased's families. CPM's Kulgam MLA MY Tarigami, while referring to ex-governor Malik, talked about a 2003-04 resolution which was adopted in the assembly that whatever the solution of J&K and Ladakh is, that should be within the unity of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. This remark also drew opposition from the BJP members. Sham Lal Sharma asked if there was a scope in obituary references to discuss such issues. The speaker also made obituary references regarding former minister Gulchain Singh Charak, former MLAs Dina Nath Bhagat and Mohammad Sultan Pandithpori, former MLCs Ghulam Nabi Shaheen and Sardar Mohammad Akhlaq Khan...