As the contentious and politically controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill was being discussed in the Lok Sabha Wednesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi put out a tweet calling the Bill a “weapon” aimed at “marginalising Muslims”. But, contrary to expectations, he chose not to speak on the Bill in the House. When the Bill came to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Rahul’s counterpart in the House Mallikarjun Kharge addressed the House, slamming the government strongly. Rahul’s decision not to speak on the Bill in Parliament, coupled with his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s absence from the House through the discussion, has not gone unnoticed. Neither was present for the debate on the ratification of President’s Rule in Manipur either, with Rahul leaving soon after voting on the Waqf Bill around 2 am on Thursday. The Opposition had been taken by surprise by the government’s decision to press ahead with the Manipur discussion at that hour. In an editorial Friday, the Malayalam daily Suprabhaatham, controlled by the pro-IUML Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, asked why Rahul did not participate in the Waqf debate, and called the absence in Parliament of Vadra, an MP from Kerala, “a blot”. The IUML is an ally of the Congress in the state. “The Waqf Bill is one of the biggest attacks on Muslims and the country’s secularism from the Sangh Parivar after the Babri incident… However, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, whom the country looks up to with great expectations, did not come to Parliament despite the party whip. That will remain a blot. The question of where she was when the Bill was debated will remain forever. Also, the question of why Rahul Gandhi did not speak on the Bill, which shatters the unity of the country, will remain,’’ the editorial said. In the case of Vadra, Congress sources said she was in the US to be with a relative who is suffering from cancer and is critical, and that she had separately informed Speaker Om Birla and the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) of her inability to attend the House. Defending Rahul, Congress leaders said nothing political should be read into his not participating in the Waqf Bill or Manipur discussion. “Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak? Was he even in the House? Rahul was. The Congress party strongly opposed the Bill, and we voted against it in both the Houses. Rahul is a Congress leader and his stand is no different. It is immaterial whether he speaks or not,” a senior Congress leader told The Indian Express, accusing the CPI(M) — otherwise an INDIA bloc ally — of fuelling all this talk with an eye on the Assembly elections in Kerala next year. The Congress and CPI(M) are in contention for the Muslim vote in the state. Another Congress leader said: “The stand of our party was put forth strongly by our members. We fielded Muslim, Christian and Sikh members… It is not that Rahul will speak every time there is an important Bill.” On Rahul not being present for the Manipur debate in Parliament, one Congress MP said: “He had visited the state and met those living in camps, and has been talking about Manipur strongly. Rahul not participating in the discussion on the state in Parliament. does that mean he has diluted his position?” Adding that the party’s collective view was important, a Congress leader said: “Plus, Rahul rarely takes part in discussion on Bills.” In fact, in the last 11 years, the senior Congress leader has participated in discussions on Bills only twice — in 2023 on the women’s reservation Bill, and in 2015 on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, popularly known as the land acquisition Bill. Since becoming the Leader of the Opposition last year, Rahul has taken part in seven debates in all — twice on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, once on the Budget and one time on the discussion marking 75 years of adoption of the Constitution. He has made two special mentions and one submission regarding the landslide tragedy in Wayanad last year. In his comment on X on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Rahul called it “a weapon aimed at marginalising Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights”. “This attack on the Constitution by the RSS, BJP and their allies is aimed at Muslims today but sets a precedent to target other communities in the future. The Congress party strongly opposes this legislation as it attacks the very idea of India and violates Article 25, the Right to Freedom of Religion.” In a statement Thursday, Sonia Gandhi said: “The (Waqf) Bill was in effect bulldozed through. Our party’s position is clear. The Bill is a brazen assault on the Constitution itself. It is very much a part of the BJP’s deliberate strategy to keep our society in a state of permanent polarization.” While criticising the Gandhi leaders, the Samastha editorial praised “Opposition leaders who fought valiantly against the Bill in Parliament event after midnight and voted against it”.
