
NEW DELHI: Opposition members of the joint committee of Parliament examining the Waqf bill on Monday claimed the Bill's "draconian" character and bid to interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims would remain despite examination by the panel.
The opposition members, whose proposed amendments to the Bill during the committee's meeting on Monday were rejected, also accused panel chair Jagdambika Pal of being "undemocratic" in the committee's functioning and alleged he had enabled the Union government to add a saffron colour to this secular nation by using its majority in Parliament.
DMK MP A Raja alleged that the committee's proceedings were reduced to a "mockery" and that the "report is already ready by this time."
"The DMK, myself, will move the Supreme Court to strike down the new law after it receives Parliament's nod," he said.
Pal, however, rebutted the charges, and said the panel considered all the amendments in a democratic way.
The view of the majority prevailed.
"Opposition MPs on Monday proposed amendments in all 44 clauses of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, seeking to mostly restore the provisions of the current Act," the panel's opposition members said in a joint statement and claimed that the law proposed by the committee in its report would maintain the Bill's "draconian" character and the bid to interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted the committee on August 9.
"As the committee has arrived to its closure part of the deliberation, we, the members of the opposition, registered our protest then and there -- both in the nature of conducting the proceedings by the chairman as well as the gross and serious deviations from the rules and procedures We have already brought on such ignominous incidents to the speaker and the public," the opposition members said in the statement.
The committee's opposition members who signed the joint statement are A Raja, Kalyan Banerjee, Gaurav Gogoi, Asaduddin Owaisi, Naseer Hussain, Mohibullah, Imran Masood, M M Abdulla, Mod Jawed, Arvind Sawant and Md Nadimul Haque.
"Today, in spite of our protest, that clause-by-clause considerations could not be held without those documents or depositions, as promised by the chairman, which will be a grave departure from the established rules. Ignoring our claims, the chairman himself called the names of the mover of the amendments (given by us) and he himself moved the amendments on our behalf and conducted the head counts on his own desire," they said.
"He (Pal) announced the rejection of our amendments, thereby our sincere efforts to protect the constitutional assurances given to the minorities are being defeated," they added.
The chairman's awkward and solo act for all stakeholders of Monday's sitting made him out as a painter to enable the Union government give a saffron colour to the secular nation by using its brute majority in the Parliament, they alleged.
"We, the members of the opposition, appeal to the people of India who stand for the constitutional values to come forward to preserve the labour and conviction put by our forefathers Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, Vallabhbhai Patel and others in the national building process with secular credentials and to protect the rights of minorities ensuring the social harmony of this sub-continent," they also said.
In addition, the opposition members said they highlighted a few "wilful and wanton disregards" by the chairman in sharing the details of deliberations.
During the proceedings, 95 per cent of the stakeholders deposed against the Bill and the remaining 5 per cent appeared before the committee under the communal entity or umbrella, according to the joint statement.
They also claimed that minutes of the sittings held in Delhi and other places were not supplied to the members and members were stopped from placing their views on the amendments.
"No discussion on clause by clause was permitted by the chairman, which is the essential element in the process," they claimed.
They also said that after the joint committee's tour of Patna, Kolkata and Lucknow to hear the views of stakeholders of the respective states and, having heard them, the chairman directed those stakeholders to submit their views within 15 days.
"These documents are yet to reach the committee for perusal of the members. Meanwhile, another sitting of the committee was convened on (January) 24 and 25 with the agenda for clause-by-clause consideration. Suddenly, on the midnight of (January) 23, for reasons best known to the chairman, the agenda was changed as stakeholders for Jammu and Kashmir for their views and 25th sitting was cancelled without assigning any reason," according to the statement.
"This issue was raised by us in the meeting held on (January) 24 for which we were suspended undemocratically," the opposition members added.
"Knowing fully well, out of our earlier experiences that the subsequent meeting might be called in short notice by the chairman", the opposition members said they had orally demanded on January 24 and subsequently in writing that depositions or documents of the stakeholders who appeared before the committee on tour had to be placed before the panel for perusal "so that we can ascertain our participation effectively and legally".