LIVE | Rajya Sabha passes Waqf Bill (128-95)

Heated exchange between Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Congress MP Jairam Ramesh after Dhankhar interrupts Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju's response to Kharge's comments.

Rijiju had just started responding to Kharge's comment when Dhankhar interjected and spoke at length on conduct of MPs in the House, need for better mechanism to deal with situations when remarks by a member are expunged but continue to circulate in the media/social media.

Dhankhar then revived the controversy triggered last week by SP MP Ramjilal Suman's comments on Rana Sanga. Ramesh objected and urged Dhankhar to allow Rijiju to finish his response. The Rajya Sabha Chairman refused and said the issue has been given quietus. He condemns Ramesh for saying that the Chairman is diverting the issue.

After Congress and other Opposition MPs walk out in protest, Dhankhar goes on to assert how allegations have repeatedly been levelled against the Prime Minister and says people should not react only when their House is burning. He also recalls instance of Opposition MPs calling him a cheerleader of the government and how a Lok Sabha MP (Kalyan Banerjee) was videographed mocking him.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge dares BJP to prove allegations levelled against him by Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Thakur had alleged during the waqf discussion that Kharge and his family members have encroached waqf land in Karnataka. Kharge had demanded an apology from Leader of the House JP Nadda and sacking of Thakur on Thursday. Kharge says if Thakur or the BJP can prove the allegation that “even an inch of waqf land has been taken by me or my family” he would resign, “or else Leader of the House should apologise and that MP (Thakur) should resign”.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday termed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as a “brazen assault” on the Constitution, saying it was part of the BJP's strategy to keep society in a state of “permanent polarisation”.

Hours after the Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Sonia said the bill was “bulldozed” through in the lower house.

Addressing Congress MPs at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in Samvidhan Sadan here, she also said that the One Nation, One Election Bill is another subversion of the Constitution and the party would strongly oppose it.

“Whether it is education, civil rights and liberties, our federal structure or conduct of elections, the Modi government is dragging the country into an abyss where our Constitution will remain on paper and we know their intention is to demolish even that,” she charged.

“It is vital for all of us to continue to fight for what is right and just, to expose Modi government's failing and intention to turn India into a surveillance state,” Sonia told MPs at the meeting.

All party MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, were present at the meeting.

Sonia also alleged that the prime minister has rebranded, repackaged and marketed numerous initiatives taken during 2004-2014 as his own personal accomplishments. That too needs to be exposed through our own public outreach activities, she asserted.

Speaking on the functioning of both houses of Parliament, she charged that the Leaders of Opposition are not allowed to speak and the treasury benches are often found to be creating disturbance in a bid to not allow the Congress to raise their issues.

Noting that the BJP members aggressively target Congress-ruled state governments, with “total falsehoods”, she urged party MPs to be equally aggressive and raise the failures and mis-governance in BJP-ruled states.

This will mean much more pointed homework and research on our part, she noted.

Taking strong exception to the passage of the Waqf Bill in the Lok Sabha, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday said his party would file a case in the Supreme Court against the Bill.

The CM, who came to the Assembly wearing a black badge to protest against the passing of the Bill, said adopting the amendment at 2 am “at the behest of a few allies” despite the opposition of the majority parties in India, “is an attack on the structure of the Constitution”.

“This is an act that disturbs religious harmony. To highlight this, we are participating in today's Assembly proceedings wearing black badges,” the chief minister told the House.

“I would like to inform you that a case will be filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) against this controversial amendment. Tamil Nadu will fight against the Union government's law which destroys the autonomy of the Waqf Board and threatens the minority Muslim population,” Stalin said amidst thumping of desk by the Treasury.

He pointed out that the state Assembly had already passed a resolution House on March 27, against the proposed amendment as it would seriously affect the religious harmony of India besides the minority Muslim community.

He said it was highly condemnable that the amendment of the Waqf Act has been passed in the Lok Sabha despite 232 MPs voting against it and this was not an ordinary number, and the number may increase. Only 288 members voted in its favour, he said.

BJP's Kerala unit president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a Facebook post, said the Waqf system, nurtured for decades “by successive Congress governments driven by politics of appeasement”, had trampled on constitutional rights and had denied individuals their rightful ownership of property.

“This amendment will restore equality, protect property rights, and provide long-overdue relief to affected people in different parts of the country. Under the leadership of PM Narendramodi ji, BJP govt remains committed to delivering on our promises and ensuring justice, fairness, and equal rights for all,” he said in the post.

The residents of Kerala’s Munambam, who had been on a relay hunger strike for 173 days under the banner of “Munambam Bhoo Samrakshana Samithi”, burst into joy on Thursday as the Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill the previous night.

Shouting slogans like “Narendra Modi Zindabad”, the protesters, mostly Christians, expressed hope that the issue will be resolved once the new law is enacted.

While they plan to celebrate the development on Thursday, the ongoing protest will continue, they said.

Joseph Benny, convener of the Samithi, said they are very happy and expressed hope that they would get their revenue rights on their properties when the Bill came into effect.

He criticised the Congress-Left MPs from the state who, in his view, failed to voice the concerns of the Munambam community in Parliament, which he said has deeply hurt the people.

However, he acknowledged the support from Prime Minister Modi, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union Minister Kiran Rijiju.

Soon after the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, approximately 600 families from the Munambam coastal area near Kochi burst crackers.

The residents are optimistic that the Waqf Board’s claim over their land will be resolved once the Waqf (Amendment) Bill becomes law.

BJP leaders, including Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan, are scheduled to visit Munambam on Thursday.