Opposition members of the Joint Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill (JPC) have decided to boycott the committee’s upcoming five-state tour, saying the committee chairman acted in an arbitrary manner and their requests to postpone the tour were ignored.
The committee is scheduled to visit Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow starting Saturday to hold discussions with various stakeholders.
Explaining the decision, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said the opposition was unhappy with the busy touring schedule, which was in conflict with their earlier commitments. He highlighted the upcoming elections in Jharkhand, by-elections in Bengal and festivals, making it difficult for members to participate.
“We have our own schedule; what do we do?” Banerjee asked.
“We are disappointed that travel has not been postponed. We have brought this issue to the attention of the Speaker. We have our own commitments – how do we adapt to this situation? Travel is very busy. We are prevented from working in our constituencies. There are elections in Jharkhand , there are by-elections in Bengal and there are festivals and although we requested the Speaker to postpone, no action was taken,” he said.
The MP also accused the committee chairman of mocking the process.
AIMIM Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi also expressed the same view. “The committee has no investigative powers and its job is to investigate the bill individually. Also, the chair cannot act unilaterally, the committee must act collectively,” he tweeted.
Opposition JPC members met the Speaker of the Lok Sabha on November 5, seeking to postpone the meeting schedule and reduce the number of JPC meeting days from two days a week to once a week or two consecutive days every two weeks.
