The marathon debate on the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday saw the Treasury and Opposition benches engage vociferously over the law proposed by the Centre.
While the discussions largely remained centered around the provisions of the Bill, there was one occasion when the war of words veered off to an issue more personal in nature.
Congress MPs were up in arms when they saw Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh walk out of the chambers. Up on their feet after over twelve hours of discussion and clause-by-clause voting that was to follow, an agitated Opposition asked how the two leaders were allowed to walk out in the middle of the voting process as the lobby had been sealed and members barred from exiting during the entire process.
Congress MP KC Venugopal said the House was bending the rules for the two leaders and was soon joined by other Congress MPs, including LoP Rahul Gandhi. MPs from the Treasury benches informed that the two leaders were only visiting the washroom but the Opposition, bracing for a certain defeat on the Bill, was bent on scoring a point.
However, the Opposition's glee soon turned into embarrassment as none other than the Deputy Leader of Opposition Gaurav Gogoi, the Congress MP leading the party's charge during the debate, walked into the House, much to the amusement of the Treasury benches.
Turning the tables on Congress, BJP MPs asked how its own parliamentarian had walked out. Just as the Opposition began to explain, another Congress MP Imran Masood walked into the House from outside, leaving Treasury MPs even more pleased.
In the midst of this commotion, Rahul Gandhi was heard saying that it was the duty of the Speaker to ensure the "sanctity of the lobby" during voting and that the Opposition could not be held responsible for the two MPs walking out in the middle of the process.
The commotion lasted a few minutes till Shah and Singh walked back into the chambers and returned to their respective seats.
It was only when things had settled down that Speaker Om Birla explained to the House, particularly the Opposition benches, that there had been no breach into the sanctity of the lobby as the "lobby" in the new Parliament building extended to the corridors outside the chambers and even included the washroom.
"Not a single door of the lobby has been opened. When the new Parliament building was made, a provision was made for the washroom to be inside the lobby. Do not argue (unnecessarily). This was done keeping in mind the young and elderly members of the House," the Speaker said.
The hours-long debate saw the ruling NDA defend the legislation as beneficial for minorities and dismissing the Opposition's allegations that sought to paint it as interference by the Centre in the religious affairs of Muslims.
The washroom break wasn't the only time that the Congress was left red-faced during the debate in Lok Sabha as some non-Congress MPs who voted against the Bill also cornered the grand old party over the lack of improvement in the condition of Muslims through the years.
"The Congress members are making speeches, but somewhere they are also responsible. Yes, I am opposing the Bill, but had the Congress thought (about Muslims), some benefit could have accrued to them. The Congress has 11 MPs from Rajasthan, which has so many Waqf properties. It should have fielded at least one MP from there to speak. Even that job has been left to me," Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party said, adding that there had been no improvement in the economic and social status of Muslims in the past 70 years.
"The world knows that the BJP openly shows Muslims their place. But the Congress dips its dagger in the sweet syrup of secularism and then drives it into the backs of Muslims," Independent MP from Kashmir Engineer Rashid, in jail over UAPA charges and attending the House on parole, said.
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