NEW DELHI: Amid a massive showdown in both Houses of Parliament over the alleged redaction of certain portions of the dissent notes in the joint parliamentary committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill, the government on Thursday tabled a corrigendum in the Rajya Sabha. For a short while, there were two versions of the bill, one with redaction in the Rajya Sabha and the other in the Lok Sabha till the corrigendum made them identical.
The Opposition erupted in protest as soon as the panel report was tabled in the Upper House with Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge leading the attack on the alleged deletion of dissent notes. However, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju vehemently refuted the charges, charging that the Opposition was indulging in the politics of appeasement.
While the first half saw heated debates between the treasury bench and the Opposition, in the post-lunch sitting, BJP MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni tabled a corrigendum in Appendix 5 of the report, prompting Opposition to say they had forced the government’s hand, adding it proved the House was misled by a minister earlier.
Speaking to this newspaper, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said only 40-50% of the redacted portions of the dissent notes were restored in the new version. “The basic requirement of conducting a clause-by-clause discussion has not been fulfilled. The panel redacted that demand,” he said.
Shah stance
The new version of the JPC report with annexures was tabled in LS at 2 pm with home minister Amit Shah asserting the BJP has no objection to the dissent notes being included without redaction. He asked the speaker to decide as per procedure.