NEW DELHI: The meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill witnessed tense moments for the second consecutive day after Delhi Waqf Board supported the Bill 2024 on Tuesday.
Delhi Waqf Board administrator IAS Ashwini Kumar supported the Bill, while the Opposition members called his stand “illegal”.
The Opposition MPs argued that according to the law, non-Muslims should not be on Waqf boards and the Delhi Waqf Board administrator is not a Muslim. However, BJP MPs blunted the argument saying that the administrator was appointed while Arvind Kejriwal was the chief minister.
However, JPC chairperson Jagadambika Pal conceded to the Opposition’s demand that a representative of the Delhi government should also be allowed to table its presentation on Waqf Board to the panel.
The meeting was also attended by TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who was suspended for a day for his unruly behaviour during the meeting. Banerjee injured himself after smashing a glass water bottle during an argument with BJP MP and former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
Speaking about the sequence of events that led to his outburst, Banerjee said, “On that day, there was a heated exchange of words between Congress’ Nasir Hussain and Abhijit Gangopadhyay. I said why was Gangopadhyay shouting? He started abusing me, my mother, my father and my wife... After the chairperson came, he was harsh towards me but soft towards him. This frustrated me,” he said.
On allegations of throwing the bottle at the panel chairman, he said, “I never had the intention of throwing the bottle at the chairperson. The chairperson has no power to suspend the members, only the Speaker does.”