On Thursday, February 13, the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on both houses of Parliament – Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha – Waqf Amendment Bill was presented. But the MPs of the opposition parties staged a strong protest, accusing them of not including their disagreement comments in the report and walked out of the House.
Strong opposition in Lok Sabha
In the Lok Sabha, when the committee chairman Jagdambika Pal presented the report in the House, the opposition members created a ruckus. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tried to handle the situation and said,
“Honorable President, some members of the opposition have objected that their disagreement has not been fully included in the report. I request on behalf of my party that appropriate steps should be taken under the parliamentary functioning. Our party has no objection in this. “
In response, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla clarified that the disagreement of opposition MPs has been added to the appendix of the report. But the opposition was not satisfied with this and continued to protest. Opposition MPs eventually walked out of the House.
Owaisi’s sharp attack
In a conversation with the media outside Parliament, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the Waqf Bill was a conspiracy to weaken Muslims. They said,
“This bill is not brought out to protect Waqf properties, but to destroy them from the possession of Muslims.”
Owaisi targeted the government and said that after the amendments, this bill has become even more dangerous. He raised the question,
“How can a non-Muslim member be included in Muslim Waqf property? This is unconstitutional and an attempt to remove Muslims from their religious properties. ”
He further said that the government is conspiring to snatch the land of mosques, cemeteries and dargahs through this bill. Owaisi strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of Articles 14, 15 and 29 of the Constitution. However, he also stated that the Lok Sabha Speaker has assured that 70% of edited excerpts of the disagreeing report of opposition MPs will be included.
Uproar in Parliament on Waqf Amendment Bill, opposition’s walkout
Mehbooba Mufti and Congress opposed
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also opposed this bill, saying,
“BJP is only doing vote bank politics. First raised the issue of Article 370, then the temple-mosque dispute and now are trying to divide the society by bringing a Waqf bill. ”
In the Rajya Sabha, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge termed the bill as unacceptable and said that removing the disagreement of JPC members from the report is completely wrong and unconstitutional. They said,
“If disagreement comments have been removed, this report is fake and cannot be accepted. The government has done arbitrary in JPC and has ignored the opposition. ”
