New Delhi: The joint parliamentary committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024 was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid demands for its withdrawal and a brief adjournment of the proceedings followed by a heated debate between the treasury and opposition benches.
Opposition MPs led by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that dissent notes were deleted from the report, a charge denied by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
A corrigendum to Appendix 5 of the report was also tabled in the House during the post-lunch sitting, prompting the opposition to claim that it was done under their pressure.
Chapter 5 of the Appendices of the report pertains to “notes/minutes of dissent received from the Members of the Joint Committee”, and contains the notes that were redacted in the earlier tabled report.
Shortly after the House met at 11 am, the JPC report was tabled by the BJP’s Medha Vishram Kulkarni, a member of the panel, followed by uproar from the opposition members. The clamour continued as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar tried to read out a message from President Droupadi Murmu, forcing a brief adjournment.
When the Upper House reconvened at 11.20 am, many opposition members stood from their seats and some trooped towards the chairman’s podium, pressing for the report’s withdrawal, even as Dhankhar threatened them with serious action.
Chairman Dhankhar named Samirul Islam, Nadimul Haque and M Mohamed Abdulla for creating “chaos and disruption in the House”. Kharge was then called to speak.
The Congress chief claimed the dissent notes of opposition MPs in the report on the Waqf bill were redacted from the report.
“The report of the joint committee of Parliament on Waqf… in which several members had given their dissent note has been taken out. Bulldozing the report by only keeping the views of the majority members is not right. It is condemnable, anti-democratic,” he said.
Calling it a “fake report”, Kharge said it should be withdrawn and sent back to a committee.
“This is not about any individual… These MPs are not protesting for their own sake, they are protesting for the community against which injustice is being done,” Kharge said.
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and AAP’s Sanjay Singh also objected to the alleged removal of dissent notes from the report.
Union Minister for Environment Bhupender Yadav quoted rules and said the JPC chairman can expunge words, expressions and phrases from the dissent note if they are inappropriate and unparliamentary.
On the other hand, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju denied the Opposition’s allegations and said everything has been kept on the floor of the House and nothing has been removed from the report.
“There is no deletion or removal of any part of the report. Don’t mislead the House. Opposition members (are) making unnecessary issues. The allegation is false,” he said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also accused the opposition parties of misleading the Upper House, prompting another heated exchange between the treasury and the opposition benches.
The Congress’ Syed Nasir Hussain accused Rijiju — who is also the Union minority affairs minister — of misleading the House and said, “My own dissent note has been redacted.”
Trinamool Congress member Saket Gokhale demanded that Rijiju should respond if any redaction was done in the dissent note.
Rijiju reiterated that the report had all annexures and nothing was taken out. The opposition MPs then staged a walkout.
Soon after the walkout, Nadda accused the opposition of being “anti-national” and indulging in politics of appeasement.
“The aim of the opposition was not to debate, it was to score political points. It is unfortunate that even though the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said nothing has been deleted… the chairman has the right to delete anything, but nothing has been deleted. This is the politics of appeasement… Some people are trying to fight against the Indian state,” he said.
“It should be on record that the walkout by the opposition today is an expression and medium to promote anti-national activities. The opposition is strengthening those who want to divide the country,” Nadda said.
Dhankhar, meanwhile, compared the report on the Waqf Amendment Bill with the Mandal Commission report, and said, “A major change in social justice occurred when the Mandal Commission report was implemented in a way. The Waqf issue is becoming a similar chapter.”
However, in the post-lunch sitting, Kulkarni tabled a corrigendum in Appendix 5 of the report, prompting opposition MPs to say it proved the House was misled by a minister earlier.
Thanking the government for the corrigendum, Dhankhar said, “I express my gratitude to the government because the matter was brought to my notice.” Opposition MPs, however, were heard saying that it was done under their pressure.
In a post on X, Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said the government was “forced to table the Waqf JPC with un-redacted Opposition dissent notes.”
TMC MP Ritabrata Banerjee spoke on similar lines, and in a post on X, said the corrigendum that was tabled had the dissent notes.
“A corrigendum of the Appendix of the Waqf Amendment Bill Report has now been tabled in the House. It is now clear that the Union parliamentary affair minister and other ministers were misleading the House in the morning,” he said.
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