Waqf panel: Opposition members protest ‘short notice’ to review draft report

“The Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Bill has been reduced to a farce. We were told that the Draft Report of the committee and its Bill will be discussed tomorrow at 10 am. It is 655 pages and has been sent to us just now. MPs are expected to go through it and provide comments and submit dissent notes. This is simply not possible,” DMK’s Raja said in a statement.

“What is the point of an independent Parliamentary Committee if the government does as it pleases anyway,” he asked.

Shiv Sena UBT’s Sawant said, “You are sending a 655-page report late afternoon and asking us to adopt it in the morning. Is this democracy? If this is how you had to do it, why did you form the committee? You could have just passed the Bill. You have the numbers. The joint committee was formed to discuss the Bill threadbare. But till date, a clause-by-clause discussion on the Bill has not happened.”

Congress’s Masood said the government was “doing this to ensure that it could table the report in Parliament ahead of Delhi elections and use it to polarise the polls”.

“Now I will sit through the night and read the draft to prepare a dissent note. They have decided that they will steamroll the Constitution, everything, on the basis of numbers. Since the very beginning they have been in a hurry on this Bill. They want to do it their way. All this is being done for the Delhi polls. They are going to Kumbh on February 5 when there are polls in Delhi. Everything is aimed at polarisation. They have done no work, have nothing to show as achievement, so they are trying to polarise,” Masood told The Indian Express.

Earlier, the MPs had protested against the committee hurriedly calling a meeting on January 24-25 and then postponing it to January 27, 28 and 29 leading to suspension to 10 Opposition MPs from the committee.

Muslim groups threaten stir over Bill, UCC

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslim organisations Tuesday condemned implementation of the UCC in Uttarakhand, and have decided to challenge it in the High Court.

They have also decided to launch a nationwide movement against UCC and the Waqf Bill.

The organisations termed the UCC in “undemocratic, unconstitutional and an assault on the fundamental rights of citizens”.

On the Waqf Amendment Bill, they said that the House panel has shown blatant disregard for parliamentary rules and boundaries, conducting its proceedings while disregarding all democratic values and traditions.