JPC report on Waqf Bill tabled in Rajya Sabha; Opposition walks out over 'exclusion' of dissent notes

The entire opposition walked out of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, demanding the withdrawal of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

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As soon as the report was tabled in the House by BJP's Medha Vishram Kulkarni, there was a protest by Opposition members who complained that the dissent notes given by various members of the JPC had not been included in the report.

They also said that those who were not stakeholders were made to depose before the committee.

Nadimul Haque and Samirul Islam of the TMC and Md Abdullah of the DMK came down to the well of the House to protest.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar then adjourned the House briefly.

The protest by Opposition MPs continued when the House resumed sitting. Citing rules, Bhupendra Yadav, senior minister, claimed that the Chairman of the JPC had the right to delete if any member was found using unparliamentary words while speaking during the meeting of the JPC.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who is also Minority Affairs Minister, maintained that the dissent notes given by members had not been removed and these could be found in the appendix of the report.

Congress member Naseer Hussain said Rijiju was not telling the truth and added that a comprehensive dissent note given by him, complete with an introduction and a conclusion, had not been included in the report.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition, urged the Chairman to put the report on hold and table in the House later after including all dissent notes.

The Chairman appealed to the protesting members to return to their seats so that he could read out a message given by the President of India. "She was the first tribal woman to become the President of India," he told the members.

As the din continued, time for the Zero Hour got over and the commencement of Question Hour was announced by the Chairman.

The agitated Opposition members then walked out of the House in protest. John Britas of the CPI(M), however, stayed behind despite being a member of the Opposition as his was the first question listed for oral answer during Question Hour.

Interrupting the supplementary question being asked by Britas, the Chairman said he was in no mood to tolerate the behaviour of Nadimul Haque, Sanirul Islam and Md Abdulla and asked the Leader of the House, JP Nadda, to recommend punitive action against these members.

Nadda said the protest was akin to "anti-national activity" and prescribed the suspension of these three members from the House for the day.