Ten members of India’s Parliament have been expelled for causing disruption during a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). The incident occurred during discussions on proposed amendments to the Wakf Act, 1955.
According to a report by NDTV on Friday, January 24, the MPs, including Kalyan Banerjee from Trinamool Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi from AIMIM, were removed following a commotion during the meeting. The expelled members also include Congress’ Mohammad Jawed, DMK’s A Raja, Congress’ Nasir Hussain, SP’s Mohibullah, DMK’s M Abdullah, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction)’s Arvind Sawant, Trinamool’s Nadimul Haque, and Congress’ Imran Masood.
The JPC meeting, which began at 11 a.m., faced chaos as opposition members alleged that they were not given sufficient time to review the proposed changes. The meeting was suspended after heated exchanges between the opposition and the ruling party members over BJP’s alleged rush to present the Wakf Amendment Bill due to upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee criticized the proceedings, calling them politically motivated and accusing the government of imposing an undeclared emergency by altering the meeting agenda at the last minute.