New Delhi, January 24: As many as 10 opposition MPs were suspended from the house for a day, for alleged disruption during the Joint Parliamentary Committee discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill on Friday.
Based on the proposal of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, the suspension of 10 opposition MPs for the day was subsequently accepted by the panel.
Dubey accused the opposition of using unparliamentary language. He alleged that the MPs were trying to suppress the majority’s voice.
Dubey also claimed that the opposition’s behaviour was against parliamentary traditions, and their attempts to disrupt the meeting were an affront to democratic norms.
Following this, MPs namely Kalyan Banerjee, Mohammad Javed, A. Raja, Asaduddin Owaisi, Nasir Hussain, Mohibullah, M. Abdullah, Arvind Sawant, Nadimul Haque, and Imran Masood were suspended for the entire day.
At the same time, the Opposition MPs alleged that they were not given sufficient time to study the draft which was brought up for discussion.
Chaired by BJP MP Jagadambika Pal, the panel meeting was set to hear a delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from Kashmir. Meanwhile, the meeting was disrupted by opposition MPs who raised concerns about “the speed with which the government wanted to pass the bill”, at the threshold of the Delhi Assembly elections, that’s is scheduled in February.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who appeared before the committee after the suspension, expressed his strong opposition to the Waqf Amendment Bill, stressing that the government should not intervene in religious matters. Farooq further pointed out they hoped their suggestions would be heard and implemented. The aim should be to ensure that Muslims do not feel marginalised by any proposed changes, he remarked.
Before being suspended, opposition MPs, including Kalyan Banerjee of TMC and Congress member Syed Nasir Hussain, walked out of the meeting. They accused the proceedings of becoming a “farce.” They demanded that the meeting be postponed until January 30 or 31 to allow for a detailed, clause-by-clause discussion.
Banerjee even described the atmosphere as resembling an “undeclared emergency” where the chairman was not listening to anyone.
Arvind Sawant, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, flayed the “hasty handling” of such an important Bill, which, according to him, could potentially cause unrest in the country.
“Why the Bill was being rushed through the committee process when there should be a proper discussion on the pivotal issue”, he asked.
