Oppn MPs Indicate Move To Disassociate From Waqf Panel Over Its Chair’s ‘Unilateral’ Functioning

NEW DELHI: Opposition MPs in the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill are scheduled to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday to protest its chairperson Jagdambika Pal's alleged “unilateral” decisions and attempts to “bulldoze” proceedings, indicating that they may disassociate themselves from the panel.

Claiming that they have been “stonewalled” during the committee's proceedings, opposition MPs have listed their grievances, including objections against the proposed law, in the letter addressed to Birla.

Opposition sources said they have prepared a joint letter –signed by a number of MPs, including Congress's Mohammad Jawed and Imran Masood, DMK's Raja, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, AAP's Sanjay Singh and TMC's Kalyan Banerjee — that will be submitted it to the Speaker on Tuesday.

They accused Pal, a four-term MP representing the BJP, of taking “unilateral decisions” on fixing the dates of sittings — which were at times for three consecutive days — and whom to call witnesses.

They said it is not practically possible for MPs to interact with deposers with adequate preparation. The committee's proceedings have been marred by frequent protests from opposition members over a host of issues, while the BJP members have accused them of deliberately trying to scuttle its work.

With the Bill taking on distinct political hues and both the ruling BJP and the opposition INDIA bloc firm on their stand in favour and against it respectively, the panel's meetings have often resembled a political battleground as it works in overdrive to meet its deadline of the first week of Parliament's winter session.

In their joint letter, opposition MPs will urge Birla to direct Pal to have a formal consultation with members of the committee before taking any decision to assure the country that the committee is functioning in a free and fair manner, without any bias and departure from the established parliamentary procedures.

“Otherwise, we humbly submit that we may be forced to disassociate with the committee once for all as we have been stonewalled,” it said.