'Won't accept fake report': Mallikarjun Kharge after JPC report on Waqf Bill gets tabled in Rajya Sabha

The Joint Parliamentary Committee Report on Waqf (Amendment) bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday

After the Joint Parliamentary Committee Report on Waqf (Amendment) bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge rejected it by calling it “fake”.

Kharge claimed that the dissent remarks have been deleted from it. Calling it condemnable, anti-democratic, Kharge urged Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar to reject the report and send it back.

"This is undemocratic. This House will not accept this fake report. I request that if the dissent notes have been removed from it, then the report should be sent back to JPC and it should be presented again after incorporating the dissent notes of the Members of Parliament. If the government does anything unconstitutional, we will raise our voice against injustice in the interest of the country," Kharge told the House.

Kharge claimed that the dissent remarks have been deleted from it. Calling it condemnable, anti-democratic, Kharge urged Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar to reject the report and send it back.

The clamour continued as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar tried to read out a message from President Droupadi Murmu. "Don't show disrespect to the president of India..." Dhankhar said and urged Kharge to ask the opposition members to take their seats.

As the uproar continued, the Upper House was adjourned till 11.20 am. When the Upper House reconvened, the chairman read out the message from the president that she had received the expression of thanks by members of the Rajya Sabha on her address to a joint sitting of Parliament on January 31.

When the Chairman tried to proceed with the Zero Hour, opposition members continued to protest and some MPs trooped into the well of the House. Leader of the House, JP Nadda, regretted that the Rajya Sabha was not in order when the president's message was read out.

Dhankhar said Samirul Islam, Nadimul Haque and M Mohamed Abdulla "created chaos and disruption in the House". Kharge was then called to speak.

DMK's Tiruchi Siva and AAP's Sanjay Singh also objected to the alleged removal of dissent notes from the report. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju, however, denied the charge.

"There is no deletion or removal of any part of the report. Don't mislead the House. Opposition members (are) making unnecessary issues. The allegation is false," he said.

Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Nirmala Sitharaman also accused the opposition parties of misleading the Upper House, prompting another heated exchange between the treasury and the opposition benches.

The Congress' Syed Nasir Hussain accused Rijiju -- who is also the Union minority affairs minister -- of misleading the House and said, "My own dissent note has been redacted." TMC member Saket Gokhale said it was not a "religious" but a "Constitutional issue".

Rijiju reiterated that the report had all annexures and nothing was taken out. The opposition MPs then staged a walkout and the House proceeded with the Question Hour.