Waqf Bill JPC members walk out of meeting, return later

Opposition members of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 walked out of a panel meeting on Monday in protest against individuals with “no stake” in the Bill being invited to provide oral evidence. The committee will meet tomorrow, 29 October, as well.

Among those who left were All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress members Mohammad Jawed and Naseer Hussain, and Samajwadi Party (SP) member Mohibbullah Nadvi. However, they later returned after a brief absence.

Tensions flared during the meeting chaired by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal following a presentation by the Delhi Waqf Board. Opposition members accused the board's administrator of altering the presentation without the Delhi government’s consent. They claimed that Ashwini Kumar, CEO of the board and commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), had significantly modified the initial report without seeking approval from the chief minister.

A letter from Delhi chief minister Atishi was submitted to the committee chair, asserting that the report submitted by the officer lacked governmental approval and should be considered “null and void”.

Monday's meeting was the first since the suspension of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee for a day after an incident in which he allegedly smashed a glass bottle during a heated exchange with BJP member Abhijit Gangopadhyay. Following the incident, BJP members called for criminal proceedings against Banerjee and his suspension from parliamentary proceedings. Notably, Banerjee did not attend Monday’s meeting.

The panel's agenda included receiving oral evidence from the Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttarakhand waqf boards. In the latter half of the day, the committee was scheduled to hear from a group of former high court and Supreme Court lawyers, the organisation Call for Justice, as well as the Waqf Tenant Welfare Association of Delhi.

The waqf panel has experienced several walkouts by opposition MPs in recent weeks. On 14 October, members left the meeting after a former office-bearer of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission and BJP leader made remarks regarding Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge related to waqf land allocations.

The committee will reconvene tomorrow to record oral evidence from representatives of the ministry of minority affairs regarding the Waqf Bill.