Rajya Sabha Opposition MPs staged a walkout on Thursday amid the discussion on the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Opposition MPs alleged that the JPC on the Waqf Bill is “biased” and “one-sided,” adding that the dissent notes submitted by the panel members weren’t included in the JPC report.
JMM MP Mahua Maji and AAP MP Sanjay Singh went on to claim that this bill is just beginning and soon the government would bring the bill to “grab” lands of other religions too.
Speaking to reporters, Mahua Maji said, “The INDIA Alliance staged a walkout against the report of the JPC on the Waqf Amendment Bill. The JPC has been biased. Today, the government is eyeing the land belonging to the Waqf; tomorrow, they will grab the properties of other religions.”
Panel member and Congress MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain alleged that the JPC had not followed the procedures and key parts of the dissent notes were blurred.
Hussain accused the Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju of “lying.”
“It (JPC report on Waqf) is biased and one-sided. The procedures were not followed in the JPC. Non-stakeholders were called, 97% of them opposed this bill. We were not given the minutes of the meeting… Key parts of our dissent notes were blurred, and the minister of minority affairs lied about it…” he told reporters.
Slamming the JPC, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, “It is disappointing that the Opposition’s dissent notes have not been included in the report… This is just the beginning. Soon, they will bring a bill to possess the lands of Gurdwaras, Temples and Churches and give this land to their capitalist friends.”
However, AIMIM MP and JPC member Asaduddin Owaisi said that a group of Lok Sabha MPs, including A Raja, Kalyan Banerjee, Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, and Gaurav Gogoi, went to meet Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and told him that many pages and paragraphs of dissent notes had been redacted from the JPC report.
However, AIMIM MP and JPC member Asaduddin Owaisi said that a group of Lok Sabha MPs went to meet the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to inform him about the redacted pages and paragraphs of dissent notes, after which most of them were included in the report.
Owaisi stated that the report will be presented in the Lok Sabha at 2 pm.
“Today, a group of Lok Sabha MPs, which included A Raja, Kalyan Banerjee, Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, Gaurav Gogoi, and me, went to meet the Speaker. We told him that many pages and paragraphs of our dissent notes have been redacted from the JPC report. He was kind enough to ask the Secretary-General to include from our dissent notes whatever the rules permitted … Later, we sat in the Parliamentary library and included most of the redacted pages in the report, which will be presented in the Lok Sabha at 2 pm… The paragraphs that expressed aspersions on the working of the committee were not included since they were against the rules…” Committee member and AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi said.
Earlier today, a major uproar erupted in both houses of the Parliament before the JPC report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm amid Opposition sloganeering against the report, while the Rajya Sabha also witnessed heated exchanges.
Congress National President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, opposed the JPC report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, alleging that dissent notes from Opposition members were removed.
The Waqf Act of 1995, enacted to regulate Waqf properties, has long been criticised for issues such as mismanagement, corruption, and encroachments.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to address these challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties. (ANI)
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