New Delhi: All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid allegations of sloganeering and continuous protests against Speaker Jagdambika Pal. Opposition members alleged that they were not being given enough time to study the proposed changes in the draft bill.
The suspended members are Kalyan Banerjee, Mohammad Javed, A Raja, Asaduddin Owaisi, Syed Nasir Hussain, Mohibullah, Mohammad Abdullah, Arvind Sawant, Nadeem-ul-Haq and Imran Masood.
BJP member Nishikant Dubey moved a motion to suspend the opposition members, which the committee accepted. BJP member Aparajita Sarangi claimed the conduct of the opposition members was shameful as they were continuously creating ruckus and using unparliamentary language during the meeting.
The joint committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill, headed by senior BJP leader Jagdambika Pal, is scheduled to hear the views of a delegation led by Kashmiri religious head Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Before summoning the Mirwaiz, the committee members discussed among themselves and during this time there was a ruckus in the meeting with the opposition leaders. Opposition members claimed that given the Delhi Assembly elections, the BJP is insisting on early adoption of the report on the Waqf Amendment Bill.
The House was adjourned for a while following heated arguments during the meeting. The Mirwaiz-led delegation appeared before the committee after it resumed its meeting.