Waqf amendment bill row: Asaduddin Owaisi, Tejasvi Surya among 21 Lok Sabha MPs on joint parliamentary panel

After a heated debate over the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on Thursday, a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) was formed on Friday to scrutinise the proposed law.

As many as 21 Lok Sabha members have been named in the joint panel. It will also have 10 more members from the Rajya Sabha.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju proposed the names of 21 Lok Sabha MPs for the JPC and asked the Rajya Sabha to recommend 10 names to be appointed to the panel.

From the Lok Sabha, the joint panel will have Jagdambika Pal, Nishikant Dubey, Tejasvi Surya, Aparajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Dilip Saikia, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, DK Aruna, Gaurav Gogoi, Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi, Kalyan Banerjee, A Raja, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Dileshwar Kamait, Arvind Sawant, Suresh Gopinath, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Arun Bharti and Asaduddin Owaisi.

On Thursday, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to “effectively address” issues related to the powers of the State Waqf Boards, registration and survey of Waqf properties and removal of encroachments, was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), strongly opposed the bill's introduction, saying its provisions were against Muslims, federalism, and constitutional provisions.

However, the government had asserted that the proposed law did not intend to interfere with mosques' functioning.

Opposing the Bill, Congress leader KC Venugopal had said: “We are Hindus but at the same time, we respect the faith of other religions. This bill is specialised for the Maharashtra and Haryana elections. You do not understand that last time the people of India clearly taught you a lesson. This is an attack on the federal system.”

DMK MP Kanimozhi had said that it is a direct violation of Article 30 which deals with minorities to administer their institutions.

“This bill targets a particular religious group,” Kanimozhi had said.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 provides for the renaming of the Waqf Act, 1995, as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995.