Several Opposition MPs, such as Sanjay Singh, Kalyan Banerjee, Gaurav Gogoi, A Raja, Mohamed Abdulla, and Arvind Sawant, left a sitting of the joint committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday. As a news agency reported, the walkout happened because they accused the members of the BJP of using abusive language against them. In a walkout today during a discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill, when a Minister was to address the house, the Opposition members walked out protesting against the bill.
They stormed out of the session for almost an hour before returning back to the meeting. But the voices of BJP members challenged the opposition by questioning whether the opposite members had started abusing the chairman of the committee, Jagadambika Pal.
It is the second time in a row that opposition MPs have walked out of the proceedings of the Waqf Bill in the joint committee. On Monday, opposition members boycotted the meeting, arguing that the panel was not following the correct procedure. The walkout reportedly occurred after a deposer levelled accusations against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and their involvement in scams related to Waqf land during the meeting.
Further, it has been observed that the debate and discussion phases of the committee have been exhaustive, with opposition and BJP members cross-ripping out loud often. On Monday, this degenerated into a particularly high-toned affair when members of the opposition demanded to know why members of Hindu organizations were invited to give evidence on a law that most directly affects Muslims. The situation turned worse when Anwar Manippady, who is a chairperson of the erstwhile Karnataka State Minorities Commission and the former second vice president of Karnataka BJP, levelled several allegations against several Congress leaders from Karnataka, particularly Mallikarjun Kharge and Rehman Khan of cheating and embezzling the Waqf properties respectively.
These recent standoff have revealed that the parliamentary panel is greatly divided on the issue of the Waqf (Amendment); Bill as political heat-up is ratcheted up.
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