Several Opposition MPs on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of a joint parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the Waqf Amendment Bill after accusing members of the Bharatiya Janata Party of using derogatory language against them, PTI reported.
This is the second day in a row that the Opposition leaders boycotted the meeting.
The protesting legislators who stormed out on Tuesday included Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress, A Raja and Mohamed Abdulla of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
The controversy erupted after a heated exchange between BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Dilip Saikia, Abhijit Ganguly, and Banerjee and Gogoi over the proposal to include women in Waqf boards, India Today reported, quoting unidentified officials.
The Opposition leaders accused the panel’s chairperson, veteran BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, of not functioning in accordance with the rules and failing to take action against his party members, India Today reported. However, the BJP MPs claimed that the Opposition members were abusing Pal.
Later in the day, the Opposition leaders wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the “gross violation of parliamentary code of conduct” at the meeting held on Monday, PTI reported.
During Monday’s meeting, a row erupted after a presentation made by Anwar Manippadi, the former chairman of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission.
After the discussion, Sawant claimed that allegations targeting veteran Opposition leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, were made during the meeting.
“The proceedings of the committee were conducted in a biased and partisan manner by the Chairperson Shri Jagdambika Pal,” the Opposition members said in a letter on Tuesday.
The MPs alleged that Manippadi “made no observations” about the bill during his presentation. “Instead, it was full of politically motivated allegations against leaders of the Karnataka Congress, including Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Hon’ble Leader of Opposition [Rajya Sabha],” the letter said.
According to the Opposition members, Pal refused to provide adequate time for the members to register their protest.
The letter said: “We request your immediate intervention in the matter, and expect you to remind the Chairperson of the Committee of his duty to be bipartisan and uphold parliamentary norms.”
A waqf is a property given for a religious, educational or charitable cause to Muslims. In India, waqfs are governed under the Waqf Act. Each state has a Waqf Board led by a legal entity that is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property. The Act was last amended in 2013.
On August 8, the Waqf Amendment Bill was sent to the parliamentary committee for scrutiny following objections from Opposition parties after the draft legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
The panel had sought written suggestions from the public, experts, non-governmental organisations and institutions, among others, on the draft legislation. It received more than 1.2 crore email responses, both for and against the bill, according to reports.
The bill proposed to amend 44 sections of the 1995 Waqf Act.
Features of the proposed amendment include ensuring the verification of land before a board announces it as a Waqf property, and requirements for the funds received by the boards to be used for the welfare of widows, divorcees and orphans as suggested by the government.
After the bill was introduced in the Lower House, several Opposition MPs objected to the bill, calling it “anti-Muslim” and “unconstitutional”.
Also read: Why Muslim leaders are objecting to new waqf bill