Waqf JPC meet: Kiren Rijiju holds meeting with NDA MPs, advises to stay united

The meeting was attended by prominent members including JPC chairperson Jagdambika Pal, BJP MPs Dilip Saikia, Aprajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Nishikant Dubey, Arun Bharati, Naresh Mahske, and Sudha Kulkarni.

This meeting was focused on discussing key issues related to the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, which aims to address challenges in regulating and managing Waqf properties.

In today's meeting, Rijiju advised all NDA MPs to stay united during the JPC meeting. He called for a meet in the wake of the ruckus that erupted during the last JPC Waqf meet, sources told ANI.

Ahead of the Waqf JPC meeting today, Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske says, "Today there was a discussion over tea. Today the JPC members came to Delhi, so we met our NDA leader Kiren Rijiju... There is competition among the opposition. AIMIM, Congress, and AAP all are protesting to show the minorities, the Muslim people that we are with you, we have fought for you. All of them are doing drama..."

A meeting of the JPC on the Waqf Amendment Bill is scheduled for today at 11 am. The meeting will discuss the bill clause by clause. The previous meeting was marred by disruptions. Opposition and ruling party members have given notices for amendments to the Waqf Bill.

The bill has sparked controversy, with opposition and ruling party members submitting notices for 444 amendments.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on the Waqf Amendment Bill witnessed chaos, prompting the suspension of 10 opposition MPs, including Asaduddin Owaisi and Kalyan Banerjee, for a day.

The proposal to suspend them was moved by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

The suspended MPs also included Imran Masood, Arvind Sawant, Nasir Hussain, A Raja, Mohibullah Nadvi, MM Abdullah, Nadeemul Haq, and Mohammad Javed. The opposition parties had strongly opposed the introduction of the bill, citing concerns over federalism and constitutional provisions. (ANI)