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10 Opposition MPs suspended after face-off at Waqf JPC

By, New Delhi
Jan 25, 2025 06:59 AM IST

Ten Opposition members were suspended from a parliamentary committee over chaos regarding a Waqf amendment bill, deepening political tensions.

Ten Opposition members were suspended for a day from the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) examining a contentious Waqf amendment bill, after chaos engulfed its meeting on Friday, widening the political rift when the high-profile panel is on the verge of completing its task.

A delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the religious head of Kashmir, at Parliament Annexe, in New Delhi, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Farooq appeared before the parliamentary panel on Waqf Amendment Bill on Friday. (PTI)
A delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the religious head of Kashmir, at Parliament Annexe, in New Delhi, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Farooq appeared before the parliamentary panel on Waqf Amendment Bill on Friday. (PTI)

The ruckus erupted over alleged changes in the schedule of upcoming meetings. Opposition members alleged they came to know of the changes only after landing in Delhi, and wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in protest. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members dismissed the allegations and said that Opposition parliamentarians misbehaved during the meeting.

Jagdambika Pal, a BJP lawmaker and the JPC chair, said that some Opposition members started shouting slogans and using derogatory language during the meeting with a delegation from Jammu & Kashmir, including cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

“Kalyan Banerjee used unparliamentary words against me and abused me…From Jammu & Kashmir, a delegation had come but they (opposition MPs) kept shouting and sloganeering... so finally Nishikant Dubey had to move a motion and everyone agreed to suspend them,” Pal told reporters.

“We held 34 meetings, called 250 stakeholders... no JPC has operated in such democratic manner,” he added.

The Opposition accused the chairman of steamrolling through proceedings. The panel was earlier set to start the clause-wise discussion on the bill on January 24 and 25. On Thursday night, it was decided to meet the Mirwaiz on Friday and defer the clause-wise review to January 27.

“We repeatedly requested the meeting to be held on January 30, 31 but our requests were not heard. When we landed in Delhi last night... the subject of the meeting was changed. First, we were told the meeting will be held clause wise. What is happening inside is like an undeclared Emergency proceeding. They are trying to hurry things because of the Delhi elections... it is politically motivated,” said Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee.

“The chairman doesn’t listen to anyone.. it is like ‘jamindari’. They don’t give any respect to opposition members. This JPC has become a farce,” he added.

The suspended MPs include Banerjee and Nadimul Haque from the TMC, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders A Raja and M Abdulla, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress leaders Nasir Hussain, Mohammad Jawaid and Imran Masood, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohibbullah Nadvi and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant.

The one-day suspension means all the leaders will be back for the next JPC meeting on January 27.

In the evening, the 10 Opposition MPs wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker. “We highlight the unilateral as well as unfair manner of functioning of JPC by ignoring the due process contemplated in the rules. It is respectfully submitted that since the erstwhile served notice scheduled for the meeting on 24th and 25th, we the members designed our programmes in the constituency/ states from 27 to 30th as the Parliament session starts on 31st… while we put forth these reasonable claims in civilised manner to the Chairman, he has not even attempted to respond,” the letter said.

“As we all felt humiliated, we stood and raised our voice democratically to hear our demands. Meanwhile, the Chairman spoke in phone with somebody and suddenly and surprisingly, he ordered our suspension,” it added.

The leaders also demanded that the chairman be instructed to conduct the proceedings in a transparent and fair manner, postpone the next meeting on January 27, and allow Opposition members adequate time and opportunity.

This is the second time that ruckus has broken out at a meeting of the sensitive panel. On October 23 last year, Banerjee broke a glass bottle and hurt himself during a heated argument with BJP leader Abhijit Gangopadhyay and was later suspended for one day and two meetings of the JPC. A week before that, several Opposition members walked out on October 14, alleging that personal allegations made against the Karnataka government and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge were allowed by Pal in contravention of norms.

Friday’s uproar comes towards the concluding stages of the JPC, which is scheduled to submit its report on the controversial bill during the Budget session that is beginning on January 31. The 31-member JPC has 18 members from the ruling National Democratic Alliance, 11 from the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, and two others.

The bill, introduced by the government in the previous session, seeks to bring changes to the powers of state waqf boards, survey of waqf properties and removal of encroachments by amending the Waqf Act, 1995. A waqf is a Muslim religious endowment, usually in the form of landed property, made for purposes of charity and community welfare.

The bill proposes sweeping changes in the regulation and governance of India’s waqf boards, that manage Islamic charitable endowments. It reworks the definition of waqf to ensure that only lawful property owners practising Islam for at least five years can create waqf through formal deeds. The role of surveying waqf properties, handled by survey commissioners under the 1995 Act, is now to be entrusted to district collectors or officers of equivalent rank. The most controversial provision is a proposal to induct non-Muslims in the central waqf council, state waqf boards and waqf tribunals, calling for such bodies to become “more broad-based”, with representation of Shia, Sunni, Bohra, Agakhani, and other Muslim sects, along with non-Muslims.

The government argues the bill modernises norms and brings in uniformity but the Opposition has called it an attempt to infringe on religious rights and the Constitution.

During Friday’s meeting, BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey moved a motion to suspend the 10 lawmakers, and the ruling side MPs agreed to the proposal. “The opposition, especially Owaisi ji, believed that Jammu & Kashmir’s full representation was not heard…Today’s meeting, which was scheduled to discuss... was postponed by the chairman based on the Opposition’s suggestion. However, in front of Mirwaiz, these people created a ruckus, misbehaved, and acted against parliamentary democracy,” he said.

Pal said that the schedule was changed only for Friday after considering requests made by the Opposition, who wanted Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to be invited to the meeting. He also pointed out that it was Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju who urged the speaker to refer the bill to JPC and not the Opposition.

“If the government wanted to hasten things, why would it refer the bill to JPC? The government has a majority in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Opposition didn’t, but Kiren Rijiju, after introducing it in Parliament, himself urged the speaker to refer the bill to JPC,” Pal said.

The Opposition demanded the meeting to discuss the clauses of the bill be held on January 30 and 31, to give them more time to go through the feedback of stakeholders received during the recent tours of the panel in Kolkata and Lucknow.

“What kind of hurry is there I fail to understand that... It’s an important bill that can create chaos in the country, but it is not being dealt with like that... It was said that clause-by-clause discussion would take place, but today, people from J&K came and that clause-by-clause discussion was postponed for January 27,” Sawant said.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who led a delegation of Mutahhida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), said they expressed their “grave concern” over the proposed amendments and submitted a memorandum to the committee. “We strongly feel that this process of amending the Waqf bill has created a lot of anxiety among Muslims. It seems like an attempt to disempower a community, which is very unfortunate,” he said.

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