A number of Opposition MPs walked out of a gathering of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Modification) Invoice Monday after a former office-bearer of the Karnataka State Minorities Fee and BJP chief deposing earlier than the panel made a touch upon Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, reportedly over allotment of waqf land.
Opposition MPs objected to Kharge’s title being talked about when he was not a member of the committee. Sources mentioned the MPs had been of the view that feedback shouldn’t be allowed towards the Chief of the Opposition within the Rajya Sabha.
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, who was among the many Opposition MPs to stroll out, advised The Indian Specific that the parliamentary committee “must be run in keeping with guidelines and rules”. “There are some ethics. If these aren’t adopted, we’ll boycott. That is what we’ve got carried out at the moment,” he mentioned, including that he couldn’t say extra on the difficulty.
The MPs quoted the previous office-bearer of the Karnataka Minorities Fee, Anwar Manippadi, saying he might authenticate his allegations.
The Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi and Imran Masood, the Sena (UBT)’s Sawant, the DMK’s A Raja, the AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, the Samajwadi Get together’s Mohibullah and the Aam Aadmi Get together’s Sanjay Singh are learnt to have walked out.
The Opposition MPs will even write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on why the committee chairman, the BJP’s Jagdambika Pal, allowed such feedback to be made. A submission on this regard could also be made on Tuesday morning, and the MPs may additionally search that Pal get replaced, sources mentioned.
On Monday, the Committee was scheduled to listen to the views of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Delhi, on the Invoice, following which Manippadi was to depose. This was to be adopted by the depositions of Mahant Sudhirdas Maharaj, the pinnacle priest of the Kalaram Temple, Nashik; Supreme Courtroom legal professionals Vishnu Shankar Jain and Ashwinin Upadhyay, who’re petitioners in a number of temple disputes; Amita Sachdeva of the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, Goa; and Chetan Rajhansa, nationwide spokesperson of the Sanatan Sanstha, Goa.
On Tuesday, officers of the Ministry of Minority Affairs are anticipated to offer oral proof on the Invoice to the Committee.
Previously too, Opposition MPs have alleged that stakeholders weren’t being heard and that politics was being carried out within the title of the proceedings.
Congress whip within the Lok Sabha Dr Mohammad Jawed posted on social media final week that “non secular organisations that don’t belong to the Muslim neighborhood” had been being invited for the assembly and that it must be “reconsidered”.
“In the course of the latest committee conferences… representations have been invited from varied non secular organizations that don’t belong to the Muslim neighborhood… For my part this observe must be reconsidered, as these organizations neither contribute to waqf properties nor have any locus standi in such issues, with most of them having biased notions about waqf, that are removed from the true essence of waqf. Their inclusion in discussions pertaining to waqf is deeply regarding to the Muslim neighborhood and dangers disregarding the emotions of India’s Muslim inhabitants,” mentioned the MP.
“Moreover, it’s value noting that in issues regarding different non secular communities, Muslim illustration shouldn’t be sought. This raises the query as to why such a observe is being adopted right here, the place the matter pertains particularly to the Muslim neighborhood,” he mentioned. He then requested Chairman Pal “to rethink this observe”.
Final month, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who’s a member of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the waqf Invoice, triggered an argument when he wrote to Pal elevating “critical considerations in regards to the huge variety of submissions” obtained on the difficulty and in search of an investigation, together with into “the geographical origin” of the submissions, by the Union House Ministry.
Dubey alleged that “fundamentalist teams”, “people like Zakir Naik”, or “international powers just like the ISI (Pakistan) or China or their proxies” could also be concerned on condition that “1.25 crore submissions have been obtained”. If such forces had been concerned, Dubey mentioned, it will be an try “to govern our legislative course of”, “an assault on the very foundations of our parliamentary system” and “have to be handled as a nationwide safety difficulty”.
