New Delhi: Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Joint Committee for the Waqf (Amendment) Bill staged another walkout here Monday, expressing concerns over the relevance of witnesses invited to provide testimony. The MPs alleged that certain witnesses, who were scheduled to give input, lacked direct relevance to the bill’s content, reports the Business Standard.
Notable figures who participated in the walkout included AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, and SP member Mohibbullah Nadvi. Sources reported that the MPs returned to the meeting shortly after staging their protest.
Tensions rose as the Delhi Waqf Board’s administrator submitted a report to the committee’s chair without receiving authorization from the Delhi government. Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Minister of Delhi, responded with a letter to committee chair Jagdambika Pal, urging that the unauthorized report be considered “null and void.”
This session followed an incident involving TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who was temporarily suspended from the committee after reportedly breaking a glass bottle in a dispute with BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay. BJP members later demanded a suspension and possible legal action against Banerjee, claiming he attempted to throw the bottle.
During Monday’s proceedings, the committee heard testimony from the Waqf Boards of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. Later, input was scheduled from former high court and Supreme Court lawyers representing groups such as ‘Call for Justice’ and the Waqf Tenant Welfare Association in Delhi.
In recent weeks, opposition MPs have repeatedly walked out during Waqf panel meetings, highlighting growing discontent. Earlier, on October 14, opposition members exited the session after a former official from Karnataka’s State Minorities Commission made controversial remarks about Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge while discussing Waqf land allocation.
