During the proceedings of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, BJP MP from Karnataka Tejasvi Surya has leveled some serious allegations against the opposition members. In the letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla, Surya alleged that the opposition MPs tried to threaten the fate of the committee Chairperson Jagdambika Pal and of a witness during the session held on October 14. Surya noted that opposition members displayed “unparliamentary behavior” when the commission heard former Karnataka State Minorities Commission Chairperson Anwar Manipaddy. Manipaddy had been called to give his expertise on issues he termed the “Waqf land scam” in Karnataka.
Surya in his said letter, stated that while in the witness box, Manipaddy spoke about that report that he had prepared in 2012 stating that about 2000 acres of Waqf land with a worth of about Rs. 2 lakh crore of land has been sold or alienated by some parties with the help of leaders of Indian National Congress (INC). That, as explained by Tejasvi Surya, angered the opposition MPs, who interrupted the meeting in chaos.
It was said that the MPs stormed the session, threatened the chairperson and the witness, and rolled the documents used by the committee. The special committee investigating the matter told Surya that ‘in a bid to confront the chairperson and the witness aggressively, they strolled up to them, verbally threatened them, and took anti-climactic turns of tearing up special committee notes and papers,’ they continued. After this, the members of the opposition left the meeting session and were heard making some negative remarks about other members.
In response, at least 12 opposition MPs sent their own letter to Speaker Om Birla accusing the JPC chairperson of conducting the proceedings in a ‘biased’ and ‘partisan’ manner. In this case, they were worried about what they considered a violation of the parliamentary standards. Surya, however, asked the Speaker to rebuke the opposition MPs for their conduct.
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