As the Winter Session of Parliament approaches, tensions within the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill have intensified. As the deadline for its report approaches, the committee has been embroiled in internal disputes, with the latest debate centering on JPC Chairperson Jagdambika Pal’s solo trip to Karnataka.
The opposition party says that the trip was planned without the participation of other members of the committee, which made it difficult for the committee to proceed. “We were not informed. If this is not part of the official tour, on what business is Jagdambika Pal going to Karnataka to meet the stakeholders?”, asked the opposition MP.
During his visit to Karnataka, Pal is scheduled to meet farmers who are protesting against the alleged encroachment of their lands by the Waqf Board.
His visit will also include discussions with stakeholders in Karnataka’s Hubballi and Vijayapura.
The trip was organized after JPC member and BJP member Tejasvi Surya asked Pal to invite the farmers of Vijayapura district as witnesses to discuss their land disputes with the Waqf Board.
Surya announced the upcoming visit on social media on November 5, saying, “The JPC chairman on Waqf has kindly accepted my request to visit Hubballi and Vijayapura on November 7 to interact with the farmers affected by the Waqf action. The chairman will be in touch with the farmer. associations and mutts, and the complaints given to him will be placed before the JPC”.
Opposition parliamentarians expressed concern over what they saw as a unilateral move, accusing the chairman of ignoring the committee’s established principles.
An opposition MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India Today TV that, “This is an example where the chairman decided to take this trip alone, which is not authorized by the committee. The official committee trip will come later”.
A group of opposition MPs recently submitted a memorandum to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, expressing frustration over what they described as repetitive meetings and activities and activities without considering the constituency responsibilities of MPs.
The full JPC committee is scheduled to make an official visit from November 9 to 14, with planned visits to Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, and Guwahati. However, Pal’s solo trip has fueled further discontent within the committee, which has already seen heated exchanges in all of its 21 sessions so far.
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