Waqf Amendment Bill: Opposition members walk out of Waqf panel meeting, rejoin later

A row erupted during the meeting after the Delhi Waqf Board administrator submitted a report to the committee chair. Opposition members walked out, claiming this was done without approval from the Delhi government.

A letter was also submitted on behalf of Delhi Chief Minister Atishi to committee chair Jagdambika Pal, stating that the officer submitted the report to the committee without getting approval from the Delhi government and that it should be treated as “null and void”.

The panel’s Monday meeting was the first one after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended for a day from the committee on Tuesday after he smashed a glass bottle during a heated discussion with BJP member and former Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

BJP MP Pal, who chairs the panel, later alleged that Banerjee tried “to hit the Chair” with the bottle. After the incident, BJP members demanded criminal proceedings against the TMC MP and his suspension from Parliamentary proceedings. The Indian Express has learnt that Banerjee was not present during Monday’s meeting.

Monday’s panel meeting included oral evidence from the Delhi Waqf Board, Haryana Waqf Board, Punjab Waqf Board and Uttarakhand Waqf Board. In the second half of the day, the panel was scheduled to collect oral evidence from a group of former high court and Supreme Court lawyers, ‘Call for Justice’, and the Waqf Tenant Welfare Association, Delhi.

The Waqf panel meeting has seen several walkouts by Opposition MPs over the last few weeks. On October 14, several Opposition MPs walked out of the meeting after a former office-bearer of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission and BJP leader deposing before the panel made a comment on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, reportedly over the allotment of Waqf land.