With 31 members—21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha—the joint committee of Parliament to review the Waqf (Amendment) Bill is expected to provide its findings by the conclusion of the current session.
On Friday, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha approved a motion proposed by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who is also in charge of parliamentary affairs, listing the committee’s members.
Twelve members of the panel in the Lower House represent the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), eight of whom are from the BJP and nine of whom are from the opposition. There are six BJP members, four opposition members, and one nominated member in the Upper House.
The Lok Sabha members in the panel are Jagdambika Pal, Nishikant Dubey, Tejasvi Surya, Aparajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Dilip Saikia, Abhiit Gangopadhyay, DK Aruna (all BJP); Gaurav Gogoi, Imran Masood and Mohammadd Jawed (all Congress); Mohibullah (Samajwadi Party); Kalyan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress); A Raja (DMK); Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu (Telugu Desam Party); Dileshwar Kamait (JDU); Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT); Suresh Mhatre (NCP-Sharad Pawar); Naresh Mhaske (Shiv Sena); Arun Bharti (Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas); and Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM).
Those included from the Rajya Sabha are Brij Lal, Medha Vishram Kulkarni, Gulam Ali, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal (all BJP); Syed Naseer Hussain (Congress); Mohammed Nadimul Haque (Trinamool Congress); V Vijayasai Reddy (YSRCP); M Mohamed Abdulla (DMK); Sanjay Singh (AAP); and nominated member Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade.
The chairperson of the committee is anticipated to be named shortly by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Although there is speculation that Mr. Pal of the BJP would lead the panel, officials stated Mr. Birla would make the final decision.
The government argued that the proposed law did not aim to interfere with mosque operations, while the opposition labelled it an attack on the Constitution and a targeted attack on Muslims. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and was referred to a joint committee of Parliament following a contentious debate.
The committee will submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the next session, Mr Rijiju said.
A group of Muslim clerics also met with Mr. Rijiju to express support for the Wakf Act, 1995 modifications that the administration had suggested in response to harsh criticism from the opposition.
