Kolkata/New Delhi. Opposition members included in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is considering the Waqf (Amendment) Bill have decided to boycott the committee’s visit to five states. The committee is going to start the tour of five states from November 9. Opposition members accused committee chairperson and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Jagdambika Pal of acting arbitrarily.
AIMIM chief and committee member Asaduddin Owaisi posted on social media platform ‘X’, “Chairman of the Joint Committee on Waqf Bill recently went to Karnataka to look into some local matter. The committee does not have investigative powers, its job is only to look into the bill. Apart from this, the Chairman cannot work unilaterally and the committee will have to work collectively.”
He said, “We had already organized a ‘consultation’ in Karnataka. We are bound by parliamentary procedure and hence are not in a position to give clarification on the questionable conduct of the Speaker since the formation of the committee. I hope that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will pay attention to the behavior of the committee chairman.” Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said that JPC Chairman Pal has fixed a busy schedule of meetings in Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow in six days with a Sunday holiday in between.
Banerjee said this in a joint press conference with party MP Nadimul Haq at the Press Club here. He said, “All opposition members of the parliamentary committee have decided to boycott these tours and meetings because the Speaker is acting arbitrarily.” He said that the opposition members will decide the future strategy together.
Banerjee said opposition members included in the parliamentary committee had met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on November 5 and sought postponement of committee schedules and reducing the number of days of JPC meetings from two days a week to one day or one day a week. Demanded to do it two consecutive days in a fortnight.
He said that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha had verbally agreed to consider their demands sympathetically and talk to the chairman of the committee, but nothing happened after that. Banerjee also alleged that the process under which the chairperson of the committee should proceed. That is a violation of established parliamentary norms. He claimed that the ruling. The party members are not working in the interest of the country but according to their own agenda. Banerjee said that MPs also have important work to do in their constituencies and the bi-weekly JPC meetings are having an impact on their busy schedules.
“Adequate time is not being given to Waqf property stakeholders, while organizations that have nothing to do with the Waqf Amendment Bill are being called to meetings,” he said. There have been many arguments in parliamentary committee meetings so far. Last month, during the committee meeting, Banerjee broke a glass bottle and threw it towards committee chairperson Jagdambika Pal. After this he was suspended from the committee meeting for a day.