Waqf Amendment Bill: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Waqf Amendment Bill on Monday (January 27, 2025) accepted all the amendments proposed by members of the ruling NDA at the Center. While every change introduced by the opposition members has been rejected.
Waqf Amendment Bill Cleared By JPC: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Monday (January 27) approved the bill. The Joint Committee of Parliament, which has been discussing the Waqf Bill for a month, accepted all the amendments proposed by the members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) , while rejecting the amendment proposals of opposition members.
Committee chairman Jagadambika Pal told reporters after the meeting that the amendments accepted by the committee would make the law better and more effective. However, opposition MPs condemned the proceedings of the meeting. They accused Pal of subverting the democratic process.
Trinamool Congress’ Kalyan Banerjee told reporters, “It was a farcical exercise. We were not heard. Pal has acted in a dictatorial manner.” Pal rejected the allegations, saying the entire process was democratic and the opinion of the majority was accepted.
According to PTI, one of the more significant amendments proposed by the committee is that existing waqf properties cannot be questioned on the ground of ‘waqf by user’, which exists in the current law. This will be removed in the new version, where properties can be considered waqf only on the basis of long-term use for religious purposes.
14 amendments of NDA accepted
Pal said that the amendments moved by NDA members in 14 provisions of the bill have been accepted. He said that opposition members introduced hundreds of amendments in all 44 provisions. But all of them were rejected by division vote. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8 by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and was then referred to the Joint Committee.
Pal said amendments moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in 14 sections of the bill have been accepted. Both the ruling coalition and opposition members proposed over 500 amendments in 44 sections of the bill. But they were rejected.
NDA allies have submitted proposed amendments to the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) pic.twitter.com/ocblOC7UOp
— IANS (@ians_india) January 27, 2025
Opposition members have strongly opposed separate Waqf boards for specific sects like Aga Khani and Shia. On Friday, 10 opposition MPs were suspended for a day after they accused Pal of bias and created a ruckus, leading to tensions between the ruling and opposition parties. The suspended MPs include Kalyan Banerjee, Congress’ Nasir Hussain and Mohammad Javed, DMK’s A Raja and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi.
The report will be sent to all the members of the committee by late Monday night or Tuesday. According to the report, the report will be officially accepted on January 29. If the opposition gives its dissent note, it will also be made a part of the report. According to sources, a report of about 500 pages has been prepared so far. The number of pages may increase after the dissent note is added. The Waqf Amendment Bill was introduced in 2024 in which 44 amendments were brought in the 1995 bill.
