10 Oppn MPs suspended after face-off at Waqf JPC

Ten Opposition members were suspended for a day from the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) examining a contentious Waqf amendment bill, after chaos engulfed its meeting on Friday, widening the political rift when the high-profile panel is on the verge of completing its task.

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The ruckus erupted over alleged changes in the schedule of upcoming meetings. Opposition members alleged they came to know of the changes only after landing in Delhi, and wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in protest. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members dismissed the allegations and said that Opposition parliamentarians misbehaved during the meeting.

Jagdambika Pal, a BJP lawmaker and the JPC chair, said that some Opposition members started shouting slogans and using derogatory language during the meeting with a delegation from Jammu & Kashmir, including cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

"Kalyan Banerjee used unparliamentary words against me and abused me...From Jammu & Kashmir, a delegation had come but they (opposition MPs) kept shouting and sloganeering... so finally Nishikant Dubey had to move a motion and everyone agreed to suspend them," Pal told reporters.

"We held 34 meetings, called 250 stakeholders... no JPC has operated in such democratic manner," he added.

The Opposition accused the chairman of steamrolling through proceedings. The panel was earlier set to start the clause-wise discussion on the bill on January 24 and 25. On Thursday night, it was decided to meet the Mirwaiz on Friday and defer the clause-wise review to January 27.

"We repeatedly requested the meeting to be held on January 30, 31 but our requests were not heard. When we landed in Delhi last night... the subject of the meeting was changed. First, we were told the meeting will be held clause-wise. What is happening inside is like an undeclared Emergency proceeding. They are trying to hurry things because of the Delhi elections...it is politically motivated," said Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee.