Parliament set for 8-hour storm as Centre moves Waqf Bill today

At 12 noon today (April 2), the Centre will move the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in Lok Sabha for consideration and passing, setting off an at least eight-hour-long stormy discussion.

Late Tuesday (April 1) evening, floor leaders of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc made it clear that they had collectively decided to “vote against the unconstitutional and communally divisive” Bill. The INDIA bloc’s decision came following a meeting, convened by Congress president and Rajya Sabha’s Leader of Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge.

Earlier in the day, both the ruling BJP and the principal Opposition, the Congress party, had issued a three-line whip to their respective party MPs, directing them to be present in Parliament “without fail” for the final three days of the Budget session, which concludes on April 4, and “support the party stand”.

Also read: Waqf bill showdown: INDIA bloc holds meeting to formulate joint strategy

Centre agrees to eight-hour discussion

On Tuesday morning, the Business Advisory Committee of Lok Sabha had witnessed raucous scenes, with the Opposition finally staging a walk-out in protest against the Centre’s refusal to accept their demand for a 12-hour-long discussion on the Waqf Bill.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who also holds charge of the Minority Affairs Ministry, which is piloting the controversial legislation, told reporters that the Centre had agreed to an eight-hour-long discussion on the Bill, which could be extended by the Speaker, if needed, after taking a sense of the House.

The Centre has claimed that it could not accede to the Opposition’s demand for a 12-hour-long discussion on the Bill, as it also wanted to accommodate a discussion on the situation in Manipur and the President’s Rule that is in effect in the strife-torn northeastern state.

Also read: Waqf bill: Congress issues whip to its Lok Sabha MPs for next 3 days

Opposition ready for a fight

That any attempt by the Centre to have the Waqf Bill bulldozed through Parliament would be met with stiff resistance from the Opposition was always known.

The proposed law, which seeks to drastically alter the Waqf (endowments by Muslims) apparatus and its functioning by allowing appointment of non-Muslims as chief executive officers and members of Waqf Boards and placing restrictions on how a Muslim can make an endowment, among other radical changes, had met with stiff resistance when it was first introduced in Lok Sabha last August. The Centre had promptly referred the Bill then to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further deliberations.

The JPC meetings, too, had witnessed severe acrimony between the Treasury and Opposition sides, with the latter repeatedly alleging that the panel’s chairman and BJP MP, Jagdambika Pal, was “conducting the meetings in a dictatorial and unilateral manner” and that the proceedings were directed towards a “pre-determined result of preparing a report (on the proposed law) favourable to the government”.

The report, which was eventually submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker in February, had borne out these allegations by the Opposition as Pal himself went on record to confirm that “all amendments moved by the Opposition to the Bill had been defeated” while those sought by the Treasury side had been “carried”.

Also read: Catholic bishops' outfit backs Waqf Amendment Bill

A warning for Nitish-Naidu-Chirag

On Tuesday, following the meeting of INDIA bloc’s floor leaders, Kharge announced on X that the Opposition parties had agreed to “work together…to defeat the unconstitutional and divisive agenda” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on the Waqf Amendment Bill.

The Centre is confident that the united Opposition’s resistance would not succeed in stalling the Bill, as the numbers in both Houses of Parliament are stacked in its favour. What remains to be seen, however, is whether key BJP allies such as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party play truant or follow the BJP’s lead on the Bill.

Both JD(U) and TDP draw significant electoral strength from the sizeable Muslim population in their respective states. The Opposition, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi in particular, has repeatedly chafed Kumar, Naidu and also Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan for letting Modi’s BJP push ahead with its “anti-Muslim agenda” and cautioned the self-proclaimed “secular” leaders that their “betrayal” would “never be forgiven or forgotten” by India’s largest religious minority.

Also read: Tamil Nadu Assembly slams Waqf Bill, passes resolution against it

TDP, JD(U) keep people guessing

Interestingly, on Tuesday, JD(U) leaders such as KC Tyagi and Sanjay Jha evaded giving a direct reply to media queries on whether they would vote in favour or against the Bill.

Tyagi told The Federal that a copy of the reworked Bill, including changes made in accordance with suggestions of the JPC, had “not been shared with our MPs” and that the JD(U) would “decide its stand only after studying the final version of the Bill and discussing it with Nitish Kumar”.

Sources said several Muslim leaders from the JD(U) had been imploring Kumar to “vote against the Bill” but added that they had not received any assurance from their party boss to this effect.

TDP leaders, too, refused to give any clear reply on whether they would support the Bill while LJP(RV) MP and Chirag Paswan’s brother-in-law Arun Bharti told The Federal that his party “favoured a Bill that would reform the Waqf system in a positive way to help the Muslim community progress and prosper”.

Also read: Waqf Bill protests rock Patna; Tejashwi joins AIMPLB dharna

BJD, YSRCP, BRS hold key

In the Lok Sabha, of the ruling NDA coalition’s legislative strength of 294 MPs, the TDP and the JD(U) make up a bloc of 28 MPs. If these ideologically promiscuous allies decide to vote against the Bill, the Centre could be in for a huge embarrassment.

Sources said the JD(U) leadership had requested its counterparts in the BJP to “not go ahead with the Bill” until the assembly polls in Bihar — a state with over 17 per cent Muslim votes, a sizeable chunk of which continues to vote for BJP’s allies such as the JD(U) and LJP(RV) – concluded later this year. The BJP, however, seems to have dismissed that request.

Likewise, in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling alliance has a majority of 129 MPs (including six nominated members and four AIADMK MPs who have, according to sources, assured support for the Bill) against the current half-way mark of 118 MPs.

Yet, the BJP needs to ensure that not only do the TDP and JD(U) MPs (six in all) vote in the Bill’s favour but also that non-aligned “secular” parties such as Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP, with seven MPs each, and the four MPs of K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) do not vote against it.

Also read: If Waqf Bill passes, IUML, allies will challenge it in court: MP Basheer

BJD with INDIA bloc?

Sources told The Federal that the Congress and DMK leadership had, late Tuesday, reached out again to Patnaik and Reddy, asking them to instruct their MPs to vote against the Bill even as BJP’s floor managers, too, reached out to the two regional leaders seeking cooperation in getting the legislation passed.

While Reddy, it is learnt, was non-committal to the INDIA bloc’s overtures, Patnaik agreed to tell his MPs in the Rajya Sabha to “vote with the Opposition”. The stand of the BRS could not be ascertained.

Aware that the Centre may succeed in getting the Bill enacted despite facing stiff resistance from political rivals, the INDIA bloc, sources said, is already discussing ways to launch a “sustained pan-India public protest” against the legislation.

For now, though, all eyes would be on how the Bill progresses in Lok Sabha today and whether any surprises would be in store for the government, when the Bill is put to a vote and the Opposition demands a division of votes polled in favour and against it.