Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Nishikant Dubey called for a probe into the 1.25 crore submissions received by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Mr. Dubey, a member of the Waqf JPC, suspected the possible role of Pakistan’s ISI and China behind the volume of feedback.
The Central government had tabled the Waqf Amendment Bill in Parliament on July 28. The Bill proposes inclusion of non-Muslims and Muslim women in Waqf boards and strips the board of powers to declare a property as Waqf. Amid strong objections from the Opposition parties, the Bill was referred to a JPC, headed by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, on August 8. The JPC had asked for people’s submission on the issue, last month.
Also Read: What are the contentious amendments to the Waqf Act and what are the implications? | Explained
The JPC received 1.2 crore email responses amid campaigns launched by both Hindu and Muslim organisations. Sources in the Parliamentary board said that 75,000 letters were received.
Questioning the volume of submissions, Mr. Dubey, in his letter to Mr. Pal, expressed concern over the involvement of “anti-national forces”. He demanded a probe on the geographical locations of the emails received in large numbers.
“He questioned the role of fundamentalist organisations and individuals like Zakir Naik in the submissions sent to the JPC. He suspected the role of ISI and China as most of the letters received by the JPC are in the same format, and demanded a detailed probe,” said a source in the JPC.
Mr. Dubey requested that the results of the probe must be shared with all members of the JPC to ensure transparency.
“This investigation is critical to preserving the fairness, integrity and independence of the Waqf Bill deliberations. The need of the hour is that we cannot allow external forces to manipulate our democratic process, and we must take swift action to safeguard the sanctity of Parliament,” the letter by Mr. Dubey reads.
Seconding the allegations levelled by the BJP MP, Vinod Bansal, spokesperson of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), called the volume of feedback an “email jihad”. He suspected the role of Zakir Naik and “anti-national forces” in sending “such large number of submissions” to the JPC. He urged the government to expose the alleged “toolkit”.
When asked about the allegations made by Mr. Dubey, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, and Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, said he cannot comment on the functioning of the JPC. “It has been empowered. How mails have come in and in what circumstances, the JPC will look into it,” he said.
“We will cooperate fully. We have not taken the report from JPC and what is happening inside the JPC, we will not go into. We made a JPC and empowered it. We will look into issues after the report is submitted to us,” he said.
Published - September 25, 2024 11:38 am IST
