The meeting of the parliamentary committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill began on a stormy note on Friday, with opposition members claiming they were not being given adequate time to study the proposed changes to the draft legislation.
The Joint Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill, chaired by BJP member Jagdambika Pal, is scheduled to hear the views of a delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the religious head of Kashmir.
Before calling the Mirwaiz, the members of the Committee held discussions among themselves which turned stormy with opposition leaders claiming the BJP was pushing for speedy acceptance of the report on the Waqf Amendment Bill with an eye on the Delhi elections.
The heated arguments during the meeting led to a brief adjournment of the proceedings. The Mirwaiz-led delegation appeared before the Committee after it reconvened.
Trinamool member Kalyan Banerjee and Congress member Naseer Hussain stormed out of the meeting and told reporters that the proceedings of the committee had become a “farce”.
They demanded that the meeting scheduled for January 27 for examining the proposed amendments clause-by-clause be deferred to January 30 or January 31.
BJP member Nishikant Dubey slammed the opposition members contending that their conduct was against Parliamentary practice and they were trying to suppress the voice of the majority.
Ahead of appearing before the committee, the Mirwaiz told reporters that he strongly opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill and favoured non-interference by the government in matters of religion.
"We hope our suggestions would be heard and acted upon and no such step would be taken that would make Muslims feel that they are being disempowered," he said.
"The issue of Waqf is a very serious matter, especially for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, as it is a Muslim-majority state. Many people have concerns regarding this, and we have prepared a detailed memorandum addressing these concerns point by point. We want the government to refrain from interfering in Waqf matters," the Mirwaiz said.
He claimed there was already an atmosphere of tension in Jammu and Kashmir when there is talk of mosques and temples.
"We believe no step should be taken that vitiates the atmosphere in J-K," the Mirwaiz said.
Earlier, the Mirwaiz was slated to meet Pal at his residence.
This is for the first time that the Mirwaiz, who also heads the virtually defunct separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference, has stepped out of the Kashmir valley post abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
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