Waqf panel: 10 Oppositin MPs suspended for protesting

The development coincided with Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq arriving to make a representation to the committee on the concerns of the Muslim community in J&K.

While Opposition members accused Pal of partisan conduct and taking orders from the government, the chairman accused them of disrupting the meeting.

He alleged that Banerjee hurled expletives at him, adding that he tried to bring order to the meeting by adjourning it twice. However, amid the ruckus, the Chairman suspended 10 Opposition members for the day.

Hours later, the suspended members wrote to Speaker Om Birla to ask the panel chairman to conduct the proceedings in a “fair and transparent manner” and get the meeting of the panel slated for January 27 postponed “so that the Opposition members can get the adequate time and opportunity to put forth our plea/claims”.

Heated arguments during the meeting over the scheduling of the next sitting and the purported lack of adequate time for the opposition members to raise objections to the Bill led to a brief adjournment of the proceedings of the panel on Friday.

The Mirwaiz-led delegation appeared before the committee after it reconvened. Banerjee and Hussain stormed out and told reporters that the proceedings of the committee had become a “farce”. Banerjee said members had earlier requested the chairman to defer meetings due to their commitments and he had said he would look into it.

Following this, it is learnt there was sloganeering by Opposition MPs. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is then learnt to have moved a motion for suspension of the protesting MPs.

During the fourth interactive meeting of the panel with stakeholders in Lucknow on January 21, the letter written by Opposition MPs to the Speaker said, members received a notice that the next sitting of JPC would be held on January 24 and 25, 2025 for clause-by-clause consideration, and were asked to send their proposed Amendments within 48 hours.

In the same meeting, they requested postponing the proposed sitting to January 30 and 31 for adequate time to collect material for discussion. The letter adds that despite both an oral request and a written one by A Raja, the chairman “maintained silence.”

It adds that a revised notice sent late Thursday night postponed the sitting for clause-by-clause consideration to January 27, saying a Kashmir delegation would meet the panel on January 24.

At the Friday meeting, the letter says, Opposition members said that the changed schedule clashed with their programmes in their constituencies between January 27 and 30, and asked for postponement of the January 27 sitting.

The letter adds that the chairman did not respond, making opposition members stand to repeat the demand, leading to Pal talking to someone on phone and then suddenly suspending the opposition members for the day.

During a press conference by Opposition members of the panel in the evening, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi accused the chairman of imposing a “predetermined roadmap” for the JPC.

Owaisi accused the government of trying to bulldoze the Bill, which would have negative consequences for a community. He underlined that land was a state subject, adding that it was inexplicable why there was a hurry to complete the work of the committee before the budget session. He alleged that the intent was to destroy Waqf properties.

Arvind Sawant told The Indian Express that the hurry was because of Delhi elections. “The BJP cannot think beyond elections,” he said.

Meanwhile, ahead of appearing before the committee, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters that he strongly opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill and favoured non-interference by the government in matters of religion.

“The issue of Waqf is a very serious matter, especially for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, as it is a Muslim-majority state. Many people have concerns regarding this, and we have prepared a detailed memorandum addressing these concerns point by point. We want the government to refrain from interfering in Waqf matters,” Farooq said.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on August 8, 2024 following its introduction in the Lok Sabha by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The Bill aims to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, to address issues and challenges in regulating and managing Waqf properties.

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