New Delhi, February 27, 2025.
The central cabinet approved the Waqf Amendment Bill on Thursday. According to media reports, the government may present the bill in the second part of the Parliament’s Budget Session. The second part of the budget session will be from March 10 to April 4.
The new draft of the Waqf Bill has been prepared based on the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf, headed by Jagdambika Pal.
Earlier, on February 13, during the first phase of the budget session, the JPC’s report on the Waqf Bill was presented in Parliament. At that time the opposition had called the report fake which was followed by an uproar in Parliament.
On January 27, the JPC investigating the Waqf (Amendment) Bill approved the draft report. In that JPC meeting, 44 amendments were discussed. while 14 amendments, led by NDA MPs of the BJP were accepted, while the opposition’s amendments were outrightly rejected.
In August 2024, the Waqf Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju. It was then sent to the JPC. Subsequently, the JPC provided a 655-page report on it.
On February 13, BJP MP Medha Kulkarni presented this report in the Rajya Sabha, and JPC Chairman and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal presented it in the Lok Sabha. The opposition raised objections in both houses regarding this. Their allegation at that time was that the disagreements were deleted from the JPC report.
