On Thursday, the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) report on Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled in Parliament, amid uproar.
BJP member Medha Vishram Kulkarni, a member of the panel, in Rajya Sabha tabled the report on Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
JPC Chairman and BJP MP Jagadambika Patel tabled the bill in Lok Sabha after it was adjourned till 2 pm because opposition sloganeering against the report.
In the Rajya Sabha, opposition MPs said that the JPC on the Waqf Bill is “biased” and “one-sided”, and that the panel’s report omitted the dissenting remarks that panel members had submitted. But Kiren Rijiju, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, denied the accusations.
Members of the opposition benches erupted after the report was tabulated, and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House for a short while.
Opposition MPs claimed that their dissenting remarks had been removed from the report when the House reconvened, and the government refuted the accusation. A walkout was then organized by the opposing members.
According to PTI, Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge stated, “In the JPC report on the Waqf Board, many members have their dissent report. It is not right to remove those notes and bulldoze our views. This is anti-democratic and condemnable. Stockholders were called from outside and their statements were taken. I condemn any report that has been presented after deleting the dissent reports”.
He went on to call it a “fake report” and said it ought to be retracted and returned to a committee.
Kharge stated, “We will never accept such fake reports. If the report does not have dissent views, it should be sent back and presented again”.
Following the presentation of the JPC report on the Waqf bill, opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha staged a walkout.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi informed reporters that the 655-page report would be studied by the MPs over the course of one night.
He told ANI, “One night to read the 655-page report…We had hardly any time to present our objections. If you check the minutes of the meetings, you will find that there was no clause-by-clause discussion. We have been all part of many JPCs, and clause-by-clause discussion is most important, but it was bypassed. Under whose influence is the chairman acting? In protest to this, we staged a walk out today”.
According to AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owasi, the Waqf Bill violates Articles 14, 15, and 29 of the Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional.
Owaisi stated, “…This bill is not just unconstitutional and violates Articles 14, 15 and 29 of the Constitution, it is not to save Waqf but to ruin it and snatching it from the Muslims…We condemn this bill…The Speaker has assured that redacted versions of 70% of the dissent reports of MPs will be included…”.
Kiren Rijiju addresses accusations
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, meanwhile, promised that the report includes the leaders’ dissenting opinions and that it is incorrect to label it unlawful or unconstitutional.
In an interview with the media, Rijiju said that the annexure and the entire report had been provided to the House.
According to PTI, Rijiju stated, “If the dissent notes cast aspersion on the committee, then the chairman has the power to remove it if needed. The chairman has this power as per the rules. If the members think that something should not have been removed, they can ask the chairman. It is not right to call the JPC report illegal and unconstitutional… It is not the NDA’s report; it is the report of the Parliament”.
The minister continued, “All dissent reports are included in the report, which was tabled in the Rajya Sabha and will be tabled in the Lok Sabha”.
Amit Shah, the union home minister, stated that if the Joint Parliamentary Committee report includes the opposition’s dissent notes, his party will have no objection.
According to ANI, he stated, “Some members of the Opposition have raised concern that their views have not been included completely (in the Waqf JPC report). I want to say on behalf of my party that considering the concerns of the Opposition, anything may be added, my party has no objection”.
Jagdambika Pal, a BJP MP and the chairman of the JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, questioned the opposition’s decision to withdraw despite Shah’s pledge.
He told ANI, “If the Opposition has brought up this issue (dissent notes note included in report), and on it, the Union Home Minister has said that his party has no objections to including these dissent notes. The Speaker said that the dissent notes would be included. This is like the Speaker’s direction. Is it not wrong to walk out even after this?”.
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