Opposition Leaders Once Again Walk Out Of JPC Meet On Waqf Bill

Several opposition leaders walked out of a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Monday to express their disapproval of the presentation given by the Delhi Waqf Board.

The members who left the meeting stated that the administrator of the Delhi Waqf Board, who had appeared before the committee, had altered the presentation without informing the Delhi government.

Among those who exited were AAP MP Sanjay Singh, DMK's Mohammed Abdulla, Congress' Naseer Hussain, and Mohamed Jawed.

They claimed that Ashwini Kumar, the MCD Commissioner and Delhi Waqf Board administrator, modified the Waqf Board's original report without approval from Chief Minister Atishi.

The meeting was chaired by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal.

The committee had invited representatives from the Delhi Waqf Board, Haryana Waqf Board, Punjab Waqf Board, and Uttarakhand Waqf Board to present oral evidence on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

The committee also summoned Call for Justice (a group led by trustee Chander Wadhwa), the Waqf Tenant Welfare Association, Delhi, and Harbans Dunkall, President of the Residents Welfare Association (All Blocks), B.K. Dutt Colony, New Delhi, to gather their views and suggestions.

What happened at the previous JPC meeting on Waqf

In the prior meeting on October 22, the committee session saw a heated exchange between BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee.

In a moment of anger, Banerjee allegedly threw a glass bottle and later reportedly tossed the glass towards Pal, injuring his hand in the process. The TMC MP was subsequently barred from attending one JPC meeting.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 aims to introduce extensive reforms, including digitisation, stricter audits, improved transparency, and legal measures to reclaim illegally occupied properties.

(With ANI, PTI inputs)