Amidst opposition protests over the alleged removal of dissent notes from the JPC report on the Waqf amendment bill, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday stated that certain sections were redacted as they cast aspersions on the panel itself.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, along with other opposition MPs, claimed that the dissent notes were “redacted” from the report after it was tabled in the Upper House by BJP member Medha Vishram Kulkarni.
Addressing a press conference in the 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.” He added that if members had any objections, they could appeal to the chairman of the committee.
“It is wrong to say that opposition dissent was not included in the report,” Rijiju asserted, explaining that all reports were part of the JPC report. “Some of the points which amount to casting aspersions on the committee itself have been removed. The chairman of the committee has powers to do so,” he reiterated, emphasising, “Everything has been done as per rules.”
Meanwhile, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking in the House, said, “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.”
With inputs from PTI