NEW DELHI: All 10 opposition members attending the JPC meeting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill – two opposition MPs were absent – were suspended for a day on Friday after they accused panel head Jagdambika Pal of arbitrarily changing meeting dates, and not heeding their plea to have the final sessions on Jan 30-31.
The members reiterated their demand that the meet for finalising the bill should be postponed from Jan 27, while Pal called their protests “dilatory tactics” to delay submission of the JPC report. He said the meet would go ahead on Jan 27, setting the stage for another row on Monday.
Ensure fair proceedings, oppn MPs write to Speaker, complain against waqf JPC chief
The suspended MPs are A Raja and Mohamed Abdullah (DMK), Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohd Jawed and Imran Masood (Congress), Kalyan Banerjee and Nadeem-ul Haque (TMC), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Arvind Sawant (Sena UBT) and Mohibullah (SP).
Later, in a letter to Speaker Om Birla, the MPs alleged that Pal “spoke on the phone with somebody and suddenly ordered suspension”, and asked the Speaker to ensure fair proceedings. BJP accused opposition of seeking to thwart passage of the bill as part of vote-bank politics.
The confrontation overshadowed the significant development of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of separatist Hurriyat Conference which does not acknowledge Indian sovereignty over J&K, participating in the deliberations in what also marked his first visit outside J&K since scrapping of the erstwhile state’s special status.
A clash was expected after opposition, through Raja, sent a letter Wednesday demanding the meetings of Friday and Saturday be pushed to Jan 30-31, as they got no time to collect evidence for moving amendments. The fireworks started right at the start, with opposition protesting the last-minute change in schedule and agenda, announced close to midnight on Thursday, prompting strong retaliation from BJP members who accused them of disruption. Pal told reporters opposition “broke all boundaries”. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved the motion for suspending the opposition contingent.
Dubey dismissed the charges as hilarious, pointing out that it was opposition MPs who got the last meeting postponed, resulting in it being rescheduled, adding, “Their allegations are just a smokescreen. The fact is that they don’t want the bill to go through for the fear of annoying vested interests among the minority community who are in illegal possession of real estate worth hundreds of billions.”
Opposition will attend the meeting Monday if JPC insists on the announced schedule. Opposition MPs said “a comprehensive study” was required by JPC as the issue pertained to large tracts of waqf land and related complex judicial issues. Some members demanded an SC probe, alleging the chairman was “acting at the behest” of higher-ups.
Rebutting opposition’s charges, Pal said he tried to answer members’ queries but was faced with sloganeering and use of abusive and unparliamentary words.
