Certain portions casting aspersions on Par panel on Waqf bill removed from report: Kiren Rijiju

New Delhi: Amid opposition uproar over dissent notes being allegedly deleted from the JPC report on the Waqf amendment bill, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said certain portions which amounted to casting aspersions on the panel itself were redacted. Opposition MPs led by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that dissent notes were “redacted” from the report after it was tabled by BJP member Medha Vishram Kulkarni in the Upper House.

At a press conference in Parliament House complex, Rijiju said, “If there is something in the note which the chairman feels is tantamount to casting aspersions on the committee itself, he has power to remove it”.

If the members have any objection, they can appeal before the chairman of the committee, the Parliamentary Affairs minister said.

“It is wrong to say that opposition dissent was not included in the report,” the minister said, adding all reports are included in the JPC report.

“Some of the points which amount to casting aspersion on the committee itself have been removed. The chairman of the committee has powers to do so,” he said, asserting, “Everything has been done as per rules.”

The Congress chief said in the House that “The report of the joint committee of Parliament on Waqf… in which several members had given their dissent note has been taken out. Bulldozing the report by only keeping the views of the majority members is not right. It is condemnable, anti-democratic”.