The report of the joint parliamentary committee on the 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid protests by Opposition MPs, PTI reported.

In the Lok Sabha, the report was tabled by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jagdambika Pal, who is also a the chairperson of the joint parliamentary committee.

Subsequently, Opposition members shouted slogans against Pal and exited the House.

On January 29, the joint parliamentary committee adopted the revised 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill after a vote, with 15 votes in favour of its draft report and 11 against. Two days earlier, the panel had cleared the bill after accepting proposals from MPs from the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

Amendments proposed by Opposition MPs were rejected.

Amid the ruckus in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that certain Opposition members had objected to their dissent notes not being annexed completely in the report.

“I wish to request you on behalf of my party that whatever their objections you can attach the same to the report as per parliamentary practice as you feel appropriate,” PTI quoted the Bharatiya Janata Party leader as saying. “My party has no objection to it.”

This came after Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, claimed that dissent notes had been deleted from the committee’s report and said that this was “condemnable and anti-democratic”.

The Congress chief made the remarks after the joint parliamentary committee report on the bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha earlier in the day. The report was tabled by BJP MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni, who is also a member of the committee.

Subsequently, the session was adjourned briefly following the Opposition’s protests against the report.

After proceedings resumed, Kharge claimed that dissent notes had been deleted and urged Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to reject the report and send it back to the committee.

However, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju rejected the allegations made by Kharge, calling them “false and misleading”.

Rijiju claimed that the Opposition MPs were attempting to mislead the House and added that the report reflected the discussions and the amendments made by the committee, The Indian Express reported.

Dhankhar questioned the behaviour of Opposition MPs during the proceedings in the Upper House and said that they “should learn some basic manners”. As disruptions continued, he asked the Opposition to “keep it shut”.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also claimed that Opposition MPs were misleading the House and criticised their alleged attempts to derail the proceedings and create confusion, The Indian Express reported.

A waqf is a property given for a religious, educational or charitable cause by Muslims. In India, waqfs are governed under the Waqf Act. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity, which is empowered to acquire, hold and transfer property. The Act was last amended in 2013.

The new amendment bill has been opposed by leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc and Muslim groups, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, who claim that it violates the right to freedom of religion and the freedom to manage religious affairs.

The 44 amendments in the bill, which were tabled in Parliament in August, propose to curb the authority of waqf boards and allow greater government control over them. They would also allow non-Muslims to become board members, restrict property donations and alter the function of waqf tribunals.

The draft legislation was referred to the joint parliamentary committee on August 8 after objections from the Opposition.

Also read: In garb of ‘amendments’, waqf bill intends to undo one of India’s oldest Muslim institutions