Ruckus during JPC meeting on Waqf Bill. 10 Opposition MPs suspended – ‘complete farce’

The meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, in the Parliament premises ended in a ruckus on Friday, after which at least ten Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) were suspended for the day.

The suspended MP's alleged that it was like an undeclared emergency during the meeting as the chairman of panel didn't listen to anyone. “It is like an undeclared emergency going on in the meeting…Chairman is proceeding with this (meeting) and he doesn’t listen to anyone…They (BJP MPs) think that they are deputy PM and deputy home minister," TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told news agency ANI.

Apart from Banerjee, the other suspended MPs include, Mohd Jawed (Congress), A Raja (DMK), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Naseer Hussain (Congress), Mohibullah (Samajwadi Party), M. Abdullah (DMK), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena (UBT)), Nadeem ul Haq (TMC) and Imran Masood (Congress).

"This is a complete farce. We were told there will be a meeting on 24th and 25th January. Now, for today's meeting, the agenda has been changed from clause by clause discussion," Banerjee said.

The commotion started after 11 am. Opposition members claimed that they were not being given enough time to research the changes proposed in the draft.

The Joint Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill, headed by Jagdambika Pal, was expected to hear the views of the delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir's religious head Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Opposition leaders alleged that the BJP is insisting on presenting the report on the Waqf Amendment Bill in Parliament early, in the wake of the Delhi Elections 2025.

After the meeting held in Lucknow, the JPC chairman Jagdambika Pal said that the last meeting of JPC will be held on January 24. The panel is expected to submit its 500-page report in the forthcoming Budget Session 2025.

So far, the committee has held 34 meetings in Delhi besides visits to several states where over 24 stakeholders were called. Over 20 waqf boards from across the country appeared before the committee.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, also a member of JPC, accused the Opposition of trying to “strangle the voice of the majority" and added that the report will be submitted to the speaker on January 29.

In August last year, the Union government had referred the Waqf Amendment Bill, which provides for a broad-based composition of the Central Waqf Council and the state Waqf boards to the JPC for further scrutiny following objections from the Opposition. Of the committee’s 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members, 13 are from Opposition parties – nine in the Lower House and four in Upper House.

Contentious clauses

With over 40 amendments, the bill proposes to revoke several clauses in the existing Waqf Act – the law governing Waqf boards. It pitches for far-reaching changes in the present Act, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in central and state Waqf bodies.

The bill gives the district collector powers to resolve disputes about whether a property is Waqf or government land. The Bill seeks to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, and proposes to allow a non-Muslim Chief Executive Officer.

Opponents say these amendments are intended to diminish the ‘arbitrary’ authority of the Waqf Boards. The existing Waqf Act allows the boards claim any property as Waqf without mandatory verification.