High drama at waqf bill JPC meet; Oppn MPs walk out

Several opposition MPs on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the joint committee on the Waqf Bill, alleging derogatory remarks against them by a Bharatiya Janata Party member.

Opposition members, including Kalyan Banerjee, Gaurav Gogoi, A Raja, Mohamed Abdulla and Arvind Sawant, stormed out of the meeting of the parliamentary panel, which was hearing a presentation from representatives of the Ministry of Minority Affairs on the bill.

The opposition members rejoined the meeting after staying away for nearly one hour.

However, BJP members claimed that the opposition members were abusing the chairman of the committee Jagadambika Pal.

This is the second consecutive day when opposition members have walked out of the meeting following differences.