In the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf Bill held on Monday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was accused of grabbing Waqf assets. Upset by this, MPs from opposition parties boycotted the meeting. He also wrote a letter to the Speaker and demanded the removal of the chairperson of the committee, Jagdambika Pal. Also asked for time to meet the speaker.
Opposition MPs have alleged that the proceedings of the committee are not being conducted as per the prescribed rules. Anwar Manipadi, former chairman of the Karnataka Minority Commission, gave a presentation, but it was not related to the bill, but to defame the Karnataka government and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
In his submission, Anwar accused Kharge of usurping waqf property, which opposition MPs objected to. In fact, in March 2012, the Manipadi Committee, which had alleged the Rs 2.3 lakh crore waqf scam, submitted its report to the then CM Sadananda Gowda.
At the same time, the Kerala Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the bill and urged the central government to withdraw it. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8 and referred to the JPC amid opposition objections. The committee is scheduled to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the end of the first week of the next Parliament session.
Opposition MPs allege that the committee is biased.
Four meetings of JPC on Waqf Bill
August 22, First meeting: Chairman of the committee said – everyone's views will be heard The first meeting of the 31-member JPC was held on August 22. In this, committee chairman Jagdambika Pal said that all the 44 amendments will be discussed during the consideration of the bill. Everyone will be heard. An official of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and Law briefed the committee about the changes in the draft law.
August 30, second meeting: Opposition MPs stage a walkout In the second meeting, the opposition members walked out of the meeting for a few minutes. The meeting lasted for about 8 hours. The views of All India Sunni Jamiatul Ulema and Indian Muslim for Civil Rights, Rajasthan Muslim Waqf, Delhi and UP Sunni Waqf Board were heard in the meeting.
The picture is from September 6. Asaduddin Owaisi and Jagdambika Pal went to the meeting room together for the JPC meeting.
September 5, 3rd meeting: Opposition said- Ministry hid information In the third meeting, the officials of the ministries gave a presentation on the Waqf Bill. Meanwhile, the officials had a heated argument with the opposition MPs. Opposition MPs alleged that government officials were not giving full details of the bill during the presentation. AAP MP Sanjay Singh and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee protested the most.
6 September, 4th meeting: ASI objects to old law A team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also participated in the meeting. The team said through the presentation that the new amendment bill is also necessary to preserve the old monuments. ASI also registered its five objections to the old Wakf Act.
The department said that many properties, which were earlier protected by the Government of India, were claimed by the Waqf without any proof. The Wakf Act 1995 (Old Act) empowers the Wakf Board to declare any property as Wakf property in the name of donation.
JPC has 21 members from Lok Sabha – 7 from BJP, 3 from Congress
- Jagdambika Pal, Committee Chairperson (BJP)
- Nishikant Dubey (BJP)
- Tejashwi Surya (BJP)
- Aparajita Sarangi (BJP)
- Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP)
- Dilip Saikia (BJP)
- Abhijeet Gangopadhyay (BJP)
- DK Aruna (YSRCP)
- Gaurav Gogoi (Congress)
- Imran Masood (Congress)
- Mohammad Javed (Congress)
- Maulana Mohibullah (SP)
- Kalyan Banerjee (TMC)
- A Raja (DMK)
- LS Devrayalu (TDP)
- Dineshwar Kamat (JDU)
- Arvint Sawant (Shiv Sena, Uddhav Group)
- Suresh Gopinath (NCP, Sharad Pawar)
- Naresh Ganpat Mske (Shiv Sena, Shinde Group)
- Arun Bharti (LJP-R)
- Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM)
JPC has 10 members of Rajya Sabha – 4 from BJP, one MP from Congress
- Brij Lal (BJP)
- Dr. Medha Vishram Kulkarni (BJP)
- Ghulam Ali (BJP)
- Dr. Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal (BJP)
- Syed Naseer Hussain (Congress)
- Mohammad Nadeem Ul Haq (TMC)
- V Vijayasai Reddy (YSRCP)
- M Mohammad Abdullah (DMK)
- Sanjay Singh (AAP)
- Dr. Dharmasthala Virendra Hegde (Nominated by the President)
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
