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Amid uproar in the Rajya Sabha over the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said that there had been no deletions or removals of dissent from the report.
Opposition leaders staged a walkout during the discussion on the JPC report, alleging irregularities. Refuting these claims, Rijiju accused them of creating an "unnecessary" controversy. "I have checked the concerns raised by the Opposition. There have been no deletions or removals from the report. Everything is on the floor of the House. On what basis can such an issue be raised? The members of the Opposition are creating an unnecessary issue, which is not a fact. The allegation is false," Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha. He further clarified that the JPC followed due procedure and that opposition members actively participated in all proceedings over the past six months. "The JPC conducted the entire proceedings as per the rules. All the Opposition members of the JPC participated in all the proceedings over the last 6 months. All the dissent notes are attached in the Appendix of the report. They cannot mislead the House," he added. Rijiju also claimed that no JPC had worked as transparently as this one. The JPC report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid protests and continuous sloganeering from opposition members. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni presented the report. She also tabled a copy of the record of evidence given before the panel on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The presentation of the JPC report was followed by uproar in the Upper House of Parliament, leading to the adjournment of the session until 11:20 am. However, as the proceedings resumed, the house again witnessed disruptions from the opposition MPs. Earlier today, Jagadambika Pal, BJP MP and Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, said that the JPC would present its report in Parliament after six months of nationwide consultations. Speaking to ANI, the JPC Chairman emphasized that the committee toured the country to collect input before finalizing the report, which included the adoption of 25 amendments across 14 clauses. "Today, the JPC will produce its report in Parliament. To have a detailed discussion and deliberation, the JPC was formed six months ago. In the last six months, we have prepared a report after touring the whole nation. We have adopted 25 amendments in 14 clauses," he said. Meanwhile, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that instead of focusing on the already available Waqf Act, an attempt is being made to bring a politically motivated amendment. (ANI)
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