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The schedule of a five-state tour has become a point of confrontation in the committee, with the Opposition terming it “hectic” amid Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections
Opposition MPs after boycotting a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill, in New Delhi on October 15, 2024. (PTI)
The parliamentary committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill is going through turbulent times with the Opposition accusing its chairperson Jagdambika Pal of violating rules of procedure by going public on the incident involving TMC member Kalyan Banerjee smashing a glass bottle and allegedly throwing it towards him.
Besides the politics, the schedule of a five-state tour has also become a point of confrontation, with the Opposition terming it “hectic” amid Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections.
The BJP and Opposition members have been engaged in bitter spats during the meetings of the JPC which is considering the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, described as a necessary reform by the government and slammed as an interference in the religious affairs of Muslims by the INDIA bloc parties.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to bring significant reforms, including digitization of records, stricter audits, increased transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied waqf properties.
Besides meeting for two days next week, chairperson Jagdambika Pal has also asked members to come prepared for a five-state tour so the panel can interact with more representatives. Meetings have been scheduled for October 28-29 and November 4-5.
The committee has met for a total of 78 hours so far in the Parliament House. The five-state tour, the schedule for which is yet to be finalized, includes UP’s Lucknow, Kolkata in West Bengal, Guwahati in Assam, Bihar’s Patna, and Odisha’s Bhubaneswar.
While the chairperson has been extremely keen on holding most consultations before a report is submitted in the next Parliament session, members of the Opposition have been miffed with the “hectic” schedule, especially in view of the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
With the Winter Session of Parliament likely to begin from the third week of November, the JPC has to be ready with the report within the first week of December.
Several MPs in the committee hail from Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and have expressed strong reservation over the short timeline to submit the report. The JPC has so far held 18 meetings and has met representatives of five states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The preparation of the report will be an elaborate task, as will its adoption. Additional staff has also been allotted by the Lok Sabha Speaker to the committee to facilitate emails and physical communication received as suggestions by the committee in lakhs.
Speaking in Haryana recently, Union Minister Amit Shah had said the JPC will submit its report in time and that the government will pass the bill in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament.
The bill will first be submitted to Parliament. Then, based on the recommendation, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has to decide if the bill brought in the last Monsoon Session needs to be tweaked. After this, the revised bill will once again need to be cleared by the Cabinet before being brought to Parliament for passage.
The JPC was announced by the government in the last Monsoon Session of Parliament and the committee held its first meeting on August 22.
