Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 13 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V Muraleedharan on Thursday slammed the opposition for staging a walkout amid the discussion on the Joint Parliamentary Commission (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, saying that the opposition didn't have valid points to discuss.
"The Parliament is meant for discussion, not for walking out. If they are walking out, they don't have any valid points to discuss," Muraleedharan, former Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, told ANI.
He said that the JPC on Waqf bill was formed to address the apprehension raised by various stakeholders and the government would consider the recommendations given by the committee.
"The government was of the stand that there have been apprehensions raised by various quarters. This is why a joint parliamentary committee was appointed. I am sure the committee (JPC) must have gone into all the details. Once the report is presented, the government will take a view on the recommendations (given by the committee). Accordingly, if required, take it in the bill," Muraleedharan added.
Speaking on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund issue, the former Kerala BJP president hit out at the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the state over their failure to take "serious action". Muraleedharan alleged the CPI(M) of "protecting" the individual behind this incident.
"It is surprising that the state government is not taking serious action and investigating the complaints. Thousands of crores of rupees have been looted from the public by a scamster, and the state government has directed the state's crime branch not to investigate the donations he gave to political parties and leaders. That means CPI-M is protecting this person because CPI-M leaders have taken huge amounts of money from him," the BJP leader said.
Earlier in the day, the opposition MPs staged a walkout amid the discussion on the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, alleging that the JPC on the Waqf Bill is "biased" and "one-sided." They said that the dissent notes submitted by the panel members weren't included in the JPC report.
JMM MP Mahua Maji and AAP MP Sanjay Singh went on to claim that this bill is just beginning and soon the government would bring the bill to "grab" lands of other religions too.
Speaking to reporters, Mahua Maji said, "The INDIA Alliance staged a walkout against the report of the JPC on the Waqf Amendment Bill. The JPC has been biased. Today, the government is eyeing the land belonging to the Waqf; tomorrow, they will grab the properties of other religions."
Panel member and Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain alleged that the JPC had not followed the procedures and key parts of the dissent notes were blurred.
As this happened, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government has no opposition if dissent notes of the Opposition are added to the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill that was tabled in Parliament today.