The tabling of the report of the Joint Committee on The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, led to disruptions and chaos in both Houses of Parliament Thursday with the Opposition alleging that its dissent notes had been deleted, and the government rejecting the charge. Amid the ruckus, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking in Lok Sabha, said some members of the Opposition had said that their “disputes” had not been fully included in the report. He said his party had no objection to whatever the Opposition wanted to include if the Speaker felt it appropriate as per Parliamentary procedure. In Rajya Sabha, BJP MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni, who had tabled the report in the House in the morning, placed a corrigendum to Appendix 5 of the report in the post-lunch sitting. The chapter is said to contain the notes that were redacted in the report tabled earlier. As she tabled the corrigendum, an Opposition MP said it proved the House had been misled earlier. In the morning, as soon as Kulkarni, BJP MP from Maharashtra, laid the committee report in Rajya Sabha, there was commotion and the House was adjourned for a while. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said the dissent remarks had been deleted from the report on the Bill. Calling it condemnable and anti-democratic, Kharge urged Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to reject the report and send it back. He said statements of non-stakeholders were not included in the report. This was strongly objected to by the treasury benches. Dhankhar questioned the behaviour of protesting MPs in the House. “You should learn some basic manners,” he told MPs disrupting the proceedings. Kharge said, “These MPs are not protesting for their own sake, they are protesting for the community against which injustice is being done.” DMK leader Tiruchi Siva and AAP’s Sanjay Singh echoed Kharge remarks while objecting to the alleged removal of dissent notes from the report. Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju rejected the allegations, calling them “false and misleading” and accused the Opposition of attempting to mislead the House. He said the report accurately reflected the discussions and amendments made during the committee’s deliberations. After Rijiju repeatedly denied the Opposition charge of omissions, Dhankhar said the Minister is categorical (in denying the allegations) and that he finds there is an effort to make this House dysfunctional. “When the Minister has made a categorical statement, if you think contrary, take recourse to the rules. He (Rijiju) is focused that no part of dissent, no part of input… has been deleted,” he said. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also accused the Opposition of misleading the House. She criticised the Opposition MPs for what she felt were persistent attempts to derail the proceedings and create confusion. Following this, the Opposition MPs staged a walkout and the House proceeded with the Question Hour. In Lok Sabha, as committee chairman Jagdambika Pal tabled the report in the afternoon, the Congress, TMC and SP MPs were in the Well, shouting slogans against the government. Among those who protested while standing at their seats were AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi and Independent MP from Baramulla, Abdul Rashid Sheikh. Home Minister Shah said his party had no objection to whatever the Opposition wanted to include if the Speaker felt it appropriate as per Parliamentary procedure. Meanwhile, Speaker Om Birla said after some members of the committee met him, the issues they raised had been included in the annexures of the report. As Pal continued to table the report, the Opposition staged a walkout, only to return a few minutes later. Rashid, who had been granted parole to participate in the session, also walked out. Owaisi did not join the Opposition walkout. In Rajya Sabha, as the corrigendum was tabled, and Opposition MPs said that Rijiju had misled the House, Dhankhar thanked the government for the corrigendum. “This shows that parliamentary institutions are blossoming, sentiments are taken into consideration, steps are taken and this gives us another message, we must take recourse to law rather than engage in something which people cannot approve or is to their distaste,” he said. “I express my gratitude to the government because the matter was brought to my notice,” Dhankhar said even as the Opposition MPs claimed it was done under their pressure.
