Amid uproar over the alleged redaction of certain portions of the dissent notes in the joint parliamentary committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni tabled a corrigendum in the Upper House on Thursday afternoon.
The corrigendum to Appendix 5 of the report was tabled in the post-lunch sitting in the Rajya Sabha by Kulkarni. She had tabled the report in the House in the morning.
Chapter 5 of the Appendices of the report pertains to "Notes/minutes of dissent received from the Members of the Joint Committee", and contains the notes that were redacted in the earlier tabled report.
As she tabled the corrigendum, an Opposition MP quipped that it proved the House was misled by a minister earlier.
Earlier in the day Opposition MPs led by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had alleged that dissent notes were deleted from the report, a charge denied by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Thanking the government for the corrigendum, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said, "This shows that parliamentary institutions are blossoming, sentiments are taken into consideration, steps are taken and this gives us another message, we must take recourse to law rather than engage in something which people cannot approve or is to their distaste."
"We want more of such things to happen. It is only by exchange and dialogue that things happen," he said.
"I express my gratitude to the government because the matter was brought to my notice," Dhankhar said.
Opposition MPs however were heard saying that it was done under their pressure.
In a post on X, Trinamool Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said the government was "forced to table the Waqf JPC with un-redacted Opposition dissent notes."
"Modi government forced to bow to the people! The government was caught red-handed in Parliament today after we demanded that the Minister state on record if opposition dissent notes from the Waqf Bill JPC report were censored," Gokhale said in his post.
"Now, at 3:30 pm, the government has issued a corrigendum in Rajya Sabha and has been forced to table the Waqf JPC report with un-redacted Opposition dissent notes. Constructive opposition fighting to save our institutions," he said.
When the report was tabled in the House earlier on Thursday, Gokhale demanded that the Rijiju should respond if any redaction was done in the dissent note.
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