Gaurav Gogoi alleges JPC "rushing through" Waqf report, says "no clause-by-clause discussion" held
Feb 13, 2025
New Delhi [India], February 13 : Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday alleged that the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill have been "rushing through" the report as they held "no clause-by-clause" discussion over it.
Gogoi also said the "genuine" stakeholders were also not invited for the discussion.
"This JPC committee and the way it has been functioning, they have been rushing through. There was no clause by clause discussion. The genuine stakeholder was not invited." Gogoi said.
He added that the committee had no 'intention' of doing a "democratic, deliberative, parliamentary exercise" and just 'bulldozed' through the report relating to matter of "utmost sensitivity"
"The way they bulldozed shows that they had no intention of doing a democratic, deliberative, parliamentary exercise on the matter of such utmost sensitivity," Gogoi said.
Alleging JPC's of not taking all views into account, Gogoi also stressed about the lack of time opposition had to read the report and present objections.
"We wanted JPC to have taken into account all the views but this has not been done. 665 pages report was presented and members had only one night to read the whole report to present our objections. We have all been part of many JPCs there's always clause by clause discussion and it was completely bypassed. Why? under whose pressure the chairman was acting?" Gogoi said.
The JPC report on Waqf Amendment Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha today after being presented in Rajya Sabha earlier in the day.
Opposition MPs alleged that the JPC on the Waqf Bill is "biased" and "one-sided," adding that the dissent notes submitted by the panel members were not included in the JPC report.
In response to the opposition claims Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government has no opposition if dissent notes of the Opposition are added to the JPC report.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to address these challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties.
