After months of clashes between the BJP-led government and Opposition parties, the Centre is set to table the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju will introduce the Bill for consideration and passage in the Lower House at noon, following which the Speaker has set aside eight hours for debate. According to the government, the Bill seeks to improve the administration and management of Waqf properties in India. The Bill was introduced in Parliament last year amid uproar by the Opposition and was subsequently sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP Jagadambika Pal for scrutiny. In February, the panel submitted its report, which was later approved by the Union Cabinet. However, Opposition MPs in the panel raised concerns over their proposed amendments being rejected and claimed their dissent notes had been redacted from the report without their knowledge. The panel accepted 14 changes suggested by NDA MPs and is learnt to have rejected all 44 changes proposed by the Opposition members. The panel’s proceedings leading up to the report too were stormy. TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended for a day for disrupting the proceedings of the panel and smashing a bottle on the table during one of its meetings. Six Opposition MPs – Banerjee, Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Mohammad Jawed (Congress), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Mohammed Nadimul Haque (TMC) and M M Abdulla (DMK) – even wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accusing Pal of “bulldozing the proceedings” of the panel. The Bill has also elicited criticism across the country, with Muslim organisations including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) holding protests. Some of the most contentious provisions in the Bill include allowing a non-Muslim to become the Chief Executive Officer of the Waqf board, making a provision for at least two non-Muslim members to be appointed by state governments to their state’s Waqf board, giving the District Collector the power to determine if a disputed property is Waqf or belongs to the government, doing away with the concept of “Waqf by user”, mandating that every Waqf property be registered on a central database within six months of the law’s commencement, and removal of the provision that made the tribunal’s decision final. However, despite this opposition, the NDA seems to have the numbers to ensure that the Bill sails through, with major allies TDP and JD(U) supporting the Bill. CPI(M)’s 24th party congress In its 24th party congress, set to begin on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai, the CPI(M) will elect a new general secretary, a post that fell vacant after the death of Sitaram Yechury last September, besides holding discussions on strengthening the party. Reviving its electoral strength in West Bengal and Tripura and retaining Kerala in the forthcoming Assembly polls remain at the centre of the party’s political efforts. Outside of Kerala, the CPI(M) has witnessed a decline in its electoral performance over the last decade and a half. “The focus of the party congress will be addressing the question of how we can increase the independent strength of the CPI(M), its political influence and expansion of its mass space… Our independent strength has not grown sufficiently and some reasons and factors for the same have been identified,” said interim CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat, in an interview with The Indian Express. Karnataka BJP protests Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Monday announced that his party will stage day-and-night protests across the state, starting in Bengaluru on Wednesday, against the Congress government's anti-poor policies. All BJP MLAs, MLCs, former legislators, former council members, office bearers, district presidents, and party workers will participate in the protest, he said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the new Karnataka Bhavan building in New Delhi on Wednesday. SAD organisational polls Starting on Wednesday, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is scheduled to hold organisational polls. Last December, while pronouncing religious punishment for SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the “mistakes” committed by the party and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, the Akal Takht had formed a seven-member committee for starting a membership drive and holding the elections for the post of party president and other office bearers within six months. – With PTI inputs
