Opposition Walkout To Letter To Lok Sabha Speaker: Here’s What Happened At JPC Meet On Waqf Bill Changes

The joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for the Waqf Amendment Bill saw ugly scenes with a war of words and the Opposition members walking out, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was using the platform to pursue its political agenda.

The MPs from the ruling side and Opposition clashed over the mention of an opposition leader and allegations against him. The Opposition MPs are yet to take a call on whether their boycott of the meeting will continue tomorrow, when the officials of the ministry of minority affairs are set to appear before the panel.

Sources in the Opposition told CNN-News 18 that the members in the committee are set to write a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2024. After its introduction, minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju announced on the floor of the house that the government was ready to send this bill for Parliament scrutiny.

LETTER TO SPEAKER

In their letter, the Opposition is likely to request the “Speaker for his protection as the committee was being used by the ruling party, whose chairman Jagdambika Pal is a senior Member of Parliament from the BJP”. They are likely to request the Speaker to change the panel chief at the earliest so that the committee can conduct a fair hearing.

All members of the opposition in the committee have given their approval to become signatories to this letter, which will be spearheaded by the Congress. Among those who have given their consent include Syed Naseer Hussain, Imran Masood and Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, Shiv Sena UBT MP Arvind Sawant, Sanjay Singh from the Aam Aadmi Party, A Raja, Mohibbullah Nadvi from the Samajwadi Party and MM Abdulla from the DMK and Asaduddin Owaisi from the AIMIM. The sources have also said that members of the opposition such as Kalyan Banerjee from the TMC are also on the same page as the other MPs.

THE TRIGGER

The members alleged that Anwar Manippady, former Chairman, Karnataka State Minorities Commission and Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation, during his presentation on the Waqf Bill, went on making baseless allegations against the Karnataka government and unnecessarily, and without seeking prior permission, made allegations against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. He accused Kharge of land grabbing in a decades-old case that was discussed at length in the state assembly. The opposition went to say that this was not as per the procedures and convention of committee.

The Opposition also alleged political motive as Anwar, the former Waqf Board chairman, was also a member of the BJP state minority unit.

In a list of 18 members that the presentation had named for “land heist” included Kharge, and former union minister in the UPA, Rahman Khan, former union minister CK Jaffer Sharief, among others.

RULING SIDE’S ARGUMENT

The MPs from the ruling side argued that the presentation included facts that were in the public domain and were examined by various authorities, including the Lokayukta. So what was the objection, they asked.

They even went on to say that any witness comment, which was not acceptable to the committee, was the domain of the chairman to look into. Some members of the ruling party even asked for this to be debated and suggested that voting be done on this matter, but sources said the Opposition MPs chose to walk out.

PRESENCE OF HINDU ORGANISATIONS

Earlier, in another war of words between the ruling MPs and Opposition on Monday, objections were raised as to why certain Hindu organisations were asked to depose before the panel.

The organisations, Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, were to depose before the panel. “These are extremist organisations whose actions and principles are not in proper consonance with our Constitution. They cannot be allowed to participate in a JPC. Such invitations and their participation shall have a direct bearing on the sanctity of discussions undertaken by JPCs,” an opposition MP said while registering his protest.

However, it is learnt that the panel chairman objected to the Opposition parties’ stance, saying these Hindu organisations were also equal stakeholders in the bill as their properties have been illegally taken over as Waqf.