New Delhi: Ten Opposition MPs were suspended for a day on Friday after ruckus broke out during a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 here.
The suspended MPs are Kalyan Banerjee (TMC), Md. Jawed (Congress), A Raja (DMK), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Nasir Hussain (Congress), Mohibullah (Samajwadi Party), M. Abdullah (DMK), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena (UBT), Nadeem ul Haq (TMC) and Imran Masood (Congress).
The Opposition members accused the Committee Chairman Jagdambika Pal for allegedly disregarding opposition voices and claimed an undeclared “emergency” is going on in the meeting.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “We repeatedly requested the meeting to be held on January 30 and 31, but our requests were ignored. When we landed in Delhi last night, the subject of the meeting was changed. Initially, we were informed that the meeting would proceed clause by clause. What is happening inside feels like an undeclared emergency”.
On his suspension, Congress MP and JPC member Imran Masood said, “They are doing everything in a lot of hurry and from the very first day it looked like they want to grab the Waqf properties…We agreed to a meeting on 25th and 26th January, now they have postponed it to 27th January. They are working arbitrarily…They are not at all serious, they just want to crush the Waqf properties…We all wanted the meeting which is to be held on 27th January to be postponed to 31st January…The situation in the JPC is not very good”.
Rebutting the opposition charges, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said, “It is the thinking of the MPs belonging to the Opposition, especially Owaisi sahib that we have not heard the complete representation from Jammu & Kashmir and called Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Only to hear him, the JPC Chairman postponed the meeting to hold clause by clause discussion.
Today, the Opposition’s thoughts and views are exposed. They created a ruckus and misbehaved in front of Mirwaiz, this is against parliamentary democracy”
He further added that even if there was a meeting to hold clause-by-clause discussion today and tomorrow, there would have been another meeting on 27th January or 28th January. A meeting was already determined for 27th January. The Opposition wants to strangle the voice of the majority”.
Dubey added on 29th January, we will submit the report to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Whenever I have taken the mic to speak in JPC meeting, the Opposition has always tried to strangle my voice…”
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is aimed at addressing the challenges and bringing reformative changes like legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties, improved transparency, enhanced audits and digitisation.
The Waqf Act of 1995 was enacted to regulate Waqf properties and has faced criticism for corruption, encroachments and mismanagement.
UNI
