"Wrongly blacked out factual issues from dissent note": Owaisi targets Waqf JPC chief

New Delhi [India], February 4 (ANI): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday alleged that the Waqf JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal "wrongly blacked out" several factual issues from his dissent note by misusing his powers.
Speaking to the media, Owaisi emphasised that Waqf properties are a form of worship for them, and the government is trying to deprive them.
"Our dissent note was very long, including several factual issues that the Chairman wrongly blacked out by misusing his powers. He also did not informed us. We then wrote a letter asking them to include these points," Owaisi said.
He mentioned that in the JPC report, the ruling party's amendments were passed based on the majority, while their amendments couldn't pass because they didn't have the numbers.
"The Waqf Board is meant for the properties that our ancestors donated in the name of Allah. Now, you are making non-Muslims members, and there will no longer be elections in the State Waqf Board; you will nominate members," he said.
He claimed further that many of the amendments the government has passed in the JPC will lead to dissolution of the Waqf Board.
"On the issue of parity, when Hindus cannot have non-Hindus in endowment boards, why should non-Muslims be allowed in this? It is clear from all of this that the government wants to seize Waqf properties, which include mosques, dargahs, and graveyards," Owaisi said.
Earlier on Monday, Opposition MPs Kalyan Banerjee (Lok Sabha) and Md. Nadimul Haque (Rajya Sabha) strongly protested the removal of key portions from their dissent notes submitted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the MPs alleged that their objections were arbitrarily deleted without prior notice or explanation.
"To our dismay and utter surprise, we found that the following objectives and dissent notes have been deleted by the Chairman without informing us and without our consent," the MPs wrote in their letter dated February 3, 2025. (ANI)