Defending the legislative process and the extensive deliberations that preceded the Waqf Amendment Bill’s passage in Parliament, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju Friday said the government created a ‘record’ of the discussion.

The minister was responding to the remarks made by senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi that the Bill had been “bulldozed” past the Rajya Sabha.

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Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, on Thursday, described the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as a brazen assault on the Constitution and a part of the BJP’s deliberate strategy to keep society in a state of permanent polarisation.

Addressing a CPP general body meeting at the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, she said, “Yesterday, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed in the Lok Sabha and today it is scheduled to come up in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill was in effect bulldozed through.”

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Mr Rijiju said, “Sonia Gandhi is a senior leader… I don’t want to comment. But yesterday, during the Congress’ parliamentary party, a statement was released that the bill was passed forcefully and by bulldozing procedures. But we have a record… There has never been this much discussion in parliamentary history.”

Hours after the Upper House voted 128-95 in favour of the new Waqf laws, after the Lower House’s approval, Mr Rijiju pointed out the BJP had “followed all processes” in the marathon back-to-back debates in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. “We followed all processes and the House functioned till 4 am… and then you say the Bill was ‘bulldozed’ on us? We saw history being made… but rather than appreciating that, you are saying we are ‘bulldozing’ the bill through. This is not right,” Mr Rijiju stated.

He also pointed out that the record 17-hour debate on the Bill in the Upper House (after over 12 hours in the Lok Sabha) did not feature a single disruption; as promised, the Opposition did not cause disorder.

The Minister said that the previous record was made way back in 1981 when Parliament discussed the Essential Service Maintenance Act.

“One important milestone that we have achieved in Rajya Sabha… Yesterday, in the Rajya Sabha, we created a new record. The earlier record was in 1981 when the Parliament discussed the Essential Service Maintenance Act… We created a new record – we discussed for 17 hours and 2 minutes in the Rajya Sabha (over the Waqf Amendment Bill). It seems extremely difficult to break this record… There was not a single disruption during the discussion over the Waqf amendment Bill…”, Rijiju stated.

Parliament passed the Waqf Amendment Bill in the early hours of Friday after a marathon and heated debate.
The government introduced the revised bill after incorporating the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which examined the legislation introduced in August last year. The bill seeks to amend the Act of 1995 and improve the administration and management of waqf properties in India.