Waqf Amendment Bill LIVE | JPC to be constituted for further scrutiny

CPM MP K Radhakrishnan, VCK MP Thol Thirumaavalavan and RSP MP NK Premchandran also oppose the introduction of the Bill.

NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule urges the government to either withdraw the Bill or refer it to a Standing Committee of Parliament. She said it is unfortunate that the Opposition had to learn of this Bill and its provisions from the media before its copies were circulated to MPs.

Sule said the Bill has worrisome provisions whose intentions are dubious and asserted that that the Waqf Tribunal has been completely weakened. She also asserted that the Bill has excluded the states from all consultation and powers.

Kiren Rijiju said media reports could be relied upon and that he did not know how the Bill appeared in the media first.

DMK MP Kanimozhi opposed the Bill’s introduction and said the government is going blatantly against the Constitution, federalism, and a religious minority. She also questioned if Muslims, Christians, or Parsis would be allowed on the trust managing the Ram Mandir. She asked how people of one religion could be allowed to make rules for governing properties of other religions.

Kanimozhi added that many old mosques are under attack today by design wherein someone files a case against a msque, a team of archaeologists is sent to the mosque, and it “suddenly finds the remains of a Hindu temple”, thereby creating dispute and division.