Congress will follow 'all democratic routes' to oppose Waqf bill, coordinate with INDIA allies: Ramesh

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday said his party will follow "all democratic routes" to oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Bill when it comes up for passage in Parliament and asserted that the INDIA bloc is against the "content, intent and extent" of the proposed legislation. Ahead of the start of the second half of the Budget session, Ramesh said there will be "extensive consultation" among INDIA bloc parties to jointly oppose the bill and the leaders of opposition in both Houses of Parliament will coordinate with INDIA parties on the issue soon.

In an interview with PTI, Ramesh said the Waqf (Amendment) Bill will probably come in the second half of the Budget session and that "there is absolutely no doubt" that the Congress is going to oppose the bill and so will many other political parties.

"I think the entire political spectrum of the INDIA political parties are opposed to the content, intent and extent of the bill. The manner in which the bill was bulldozed through made a mockery of Parliament's joint committee process," he alleged.

"The Waqf (Amendment) bill is controversial and it is going to be opposed lock, stock and barrel," the Congress' general secretary in-charge communications said.

He asserted that the Congress will oppose the bill "tooth, nail and hammer" because it was the most unnecessary and the manner in which Parliament's joint committee functioned was "undemocratic".

"Some witnesses were called selectively, some witnesses were not called. Most importantly perhaps for the first time in parliamentary history a joint committee had submitted a report on a bill without a clause-by-clause discussion on the bill," Ramesh said.

Ramesh said he had been a member of the JPC on the data protection bill that was chaired by a BJP MP but inspite of that a clause-by-clause discussion was done.

The Congress is in touch with INDIA bloc parties and Leader of Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as well as LoP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will in the next couple of days be talking to all opposition leaders, he said.

"On this, all opposition parties are united. Privately even the TDP and the JDU MPs are very uneasy with the bill but they have their compulsions. They seem to have gone along because they were browbeaten by the BJP to support this bill," he claimed.

Ramesh said he does not know what JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu would do but there "real face will be revealed".

"I don't know what is going to happen when they will list the bill but I am sure they will list it, whether they pass it in the din or not I have no idea, but we will follow all democratic routes to oppose this bill," he said.

Talking about the upcoming second half of the Budget session, he said there will be a discussion on various ministries on the demands for grants.

"Both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at least five ministries will be taken up. We have given our list of ministries -- home, education, social justice, railways and health. That is going to be decided very shortly, our suggestions have already gone," Ramesh informed.

Then there will be a debate on the finance bill and there will be a debate on the appropriation bill, he said.

The 31-member panel on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, after multiple sittings and hearings, had suggested several amendments to the proposed legislation even as the opposition members disagreed with the report and submitted their dissent notes.

The panel's 655-page report was submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on January 30.

The joint committee of Parliament had adopted the report that contained changes suggested by members from the ruling BJP by a majority vote of 15-11. The move prompted the opposition to dub the exercise an attempt to destroy Waqf boards.

The Bill was referred to the joint committee of Parliament on August 8, following its introduction in the Lok Sabha by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Asked about the differences among INDIA bloc parties in assembly polls held after the Lok Sabha elections, Ramesh said it was not "unnatural" as the INDIA group was formed to fight the Lok Sabha election and not to fight thr state assembly elections.

"When we formed the INDIA bloc we knew that we were fighting the Left in Kerala, we were fighting TMC in West Bengal... So, INDIA group was for the Lok Sabha election, it was not for fighting assembly elections. But we had state-level alliances. We had an alliance with DMK in Tamil Nadu, we have a long-standing alliance with the NCP (SP) of which Shiv Sena (UBT) has been a part since 2019, we have been in alliance with RJD for many years in Bihar, we have been in alliance with JMM in Jharkhand," he said.

"But the INDIA group was for the Lok Sabha polls so I am not surprised or disappointed that we fought each other in the state assembly polls that is the nature of the INDIA alliance," Ramesh asserted.

He said the INDIA bloc will be coordinating closely in the upcoming second half of the Budget session.

The first half of the Budget Session was held from January 31 to February 13. The second half starts on Monday and will conclude on April 4.