In a bizarre incident, All India Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament  Kalyan Banerjee created a ruckus during a crucial Waqf meeting in Parliament on Tuesday where he smashed a glass water bottle and hurled it towards the Chair. Banerjee injured himself and jeopardised the safety of other Parliamentarians who had gathered for a discussion on the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Banerjee was suspended for one day from the parliamentary committee on the Waqf Bill after his theatrics. He later emerged with a bandaged hand, escorted by fellow MPs. 

Sources at the meeting said the TMC MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), during a heated exchange of words with BJP’s Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta High Court judge.

This is the second time Banerjee has made news for odd reasons, the last time he had mimicked a presiding officer of the Parliament. The act was condemned by the President of India, Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.   

According to sources, the panel voted nine-eight on a resolution moved by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to suspend Banerjee for a day for his choice of words for the panel chairman, and for smashing a glass bottle and throwing it towards Pal. After the meeting concluded, Banerjee refused to talk to reporters about the incident.

After being administered first aid, Banerjee was seen being escorted back to the meeting room by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and AAP leader Sanjay Singh.

The committee was listening to the views of two organisations from Odisha, which included retired judges and lawyers, when the opposition members questioned what was their stake in the bill.

A BJP member said Banerjee was the first person to speak and was also allowed some interventions by the Chair. When he sought another turn to speak, Pal declined and a heated exchange erupted between him and Gangopadhyay, who objected to the repeated disturbance.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was referred to the joint panel of the Houses soon after being introduced in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon Session. The Bill to amend the law governing Waqf boards has proposed far-reaching changes in the present Act, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.

It also aims at renaming the Waqf Act, 1995, as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995. According to its statement of objects and reasons, the Bill seeks to omit Section 40 of the current law relating to the powers of the Board to decide if a property is Waqf property.

It provides for a broad-based composition of the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards and ensures the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.

The Bill also proposes the establishment of a separate Board of Auqaf for the Bohras and Aghakhanis. The draft law provides for the representation of Shias, Sunnis, Bohras, Agakhanis and other backward classes among Muslim communities.