New Delhi. Several MPs from opposition parties on Monday boycotted the meeting of the parliamentary committee considering the Waqf (Amendment) Bill after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was accused of being involved in the Waqf land scams. Along with this, opposition MPs alleged that the parliamentary committee is not working as per the rules.
During the meeting of the Joint Committee of Parliament, there was a heated exchange between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition members and it was a ruckus. Members of opposition parties questioned the logic behind calling members of Hindu groups to discuss the law related to Muslims.
Opposition MPs walked out in protest against the presentation by Anwar Maniappadi, former chairman of Karnataka State Minority Commission and Karnataka Minority Development Corporation. He is also the former vice president of Karnataka BJP. Maniappadi named several Karnataka Congress leaders, including Kharge and Rehman Khan, and others for their alleged involvement in taking over Waqf properties.
Opposition MPs, citing the rules of procedure of parliamentary committees, claimed that unproven allegations cannot be made against ‘persons holding high positions’ in the meetings of such committees. He said that Maniappadi appealed to the Muslims not to oppose the bill. According to him, this appeal was also not in accordance with the rules.
An opposition MP said that allegations cannot be made against a person who is not present in the meeting to defend himself. Committee chairperson and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagdambika Pal, however, rejected their objections and allowed the discussion to continue.
A BJP member said the presentation is relevant to the bill because Maniappadi’s claim pertains to Waqf properties.
Opposition MPs, including Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi and Imran Masood, DMK’s A Raja, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, Samajwadi Party’s Mohibullah and Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh came out of the meeting and expressed their concern against its proceedings. . Sawant told reporters that the committee was not working as per the rules.
Opposition members later held a separate meeting to decide further action. It is expected that he will write a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Tuesday regarding the functioning of the committee. The committee had called many organizations and activists associated with Hindu issues for statements, which was opposed by the opposition members.
He objected to Hindu organizations being called to express their views and said that they have no interference in Waqf issues, which concern Muslims. However, sources in the ruling BJP said that these organizations and activists are raising the issue of how the Waqf law affects non-Muslim properties, including properties belonging to temples. He said that when the committee has decided to conduct such extensive consultation then they should have their say.
Sources said that Owaisi wrote a letter to Pal regarding the invitation sent to Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and alleged that these organizations follow extremist ideologies. The Hyderabad MP, in a letter to Pal, alleged that the declared aim of these organizations was to create a Hindu nation and that they had openly ‘adopted violent methods and raised the voice of rebellion against the Union of India’.
Others called for the report by the committee included lawyers Vishnu Shankar Jain and Ashwini Upadhyay and Mahant Sudhirdas Maharaj of Kalaram Temple in Nashik, Maharashtra. Mahmood Madani of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind also appeared before the committee. His organization has been opposing the proposed amendments in the Waqf Bill.