New Delhi [India], February 13 : Amid the Opposition parties objecting to the alleged deletion of dissent notes from the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024, on Thursday, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and JPC member Aparajita Sarangi defended the report, calling it a "meticulous exercise."
"Since I have been a part of the JPC, I can say with all conviction that the preparation of the 655 pages report has been a meticulous exercise... The government of PM Narendra Modi wants proper management of the Waqf properties," the MP told ANI.
Further stating that the bill has been brought for a "noble cause" the centre has brought the amendment, she added, "Jagdambika Pal has included the notes of the Opposition who were a part of the JPC... It is with a noble cause that PM Modi's government has brought this amendment."
Further hitting out at the Opposition in Parliament, she decried that whatever "action" the PM takes, the Opposition simply opposes that.
"All the dissent notes of all the Opposition party members have been appropriately incorporated... I am very confident that the bill will be passed by both houses. Tabling the bill is not a full stop to the whole exercise... For every action of PM Narendra Modi, there is an equal and opposite negative reaction by the Opposition, which is unfortunate," she told ANI.
She further asked for better management of properties under the Waqf board, giving more income to the caretaker of properties and also stopping any alleged encroachment by said properties.
Earlier today, JPC chairman Jagdambika Pal also criticised the Opposition staging a walkout, claiming that the dissent notes had been duly included in the report.
"If the Opposition has brought up this issue (dissent notes note included in the report), and on it, the Union Home Minister has said that his party has no objections to including these dissent notes. The Speaker said that the dissent notes would be included. This is like the Speaker's direction. Is it not wrong to walk out even after this?" he told ANI.
However, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi accused the committee of not giving enough time to read and object to the report.
The Congress MP told reporters at Parliament premises, "One night to read the 655-page report...We had hardly any time to present our objections. If you check the minutes of the meetings, you will find that there was no clause-by-clause discussion. We have been all part of many JPCs, and clause-by-clause discussion is most important, but it was bypassed. Under whose influence is the chairman acting? In protest to this, we staged a walk out today."