New Delhi:
The Lok Sabha today witnessed a banter between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav after the latter fired a barb at the ruling BJP for its delay in electing a party president.
Addressing the House during the debate on the Waqf Amendment Bill, Mr Yadav said the BJP was facing infighting as leaders compete to prove who the “worse Hindu” is. “I am not saying this just like that. The party, which claims to be the world’s largest party, could not elect its national president,” he said.
At this, Mr Shah stood up and said, “Akhilesh ji said something with a smile. And I will respond with a smile.” Pointing to the Opposition benches, the Home Minister said, “All the parties there have to elect their national president from among five people of the family. We must follow a process and choose a chief from 12-13 crore members. So it takes time,” Mr Shah said, drawing a big cheer from BJP MPs.
Addressing Mr Yadav, the BJP veteran said, “You won’t take time. I am telling you, you will be party president for 25 years. No one can change.”
The Samajwadi Party chief responded with a smile and added a jab. “The yatra held a few days back, was it a yatra to mark the 75-year extension?” The remark was widely seen as a reference to the 75 years-age rule for senior BJP leaders.
Mr Yadav, who represents Kannauj, said the Waqf Amendment Bill has been brought to “cover the government’s many failures”, including demonetisation, unemployment and price rise.
“This country has a mixed culture. You are saying we have introduced two women members to Waqf board. I will see how many women get BJP tickets in the Bihar election. BJP is talking about identifying Muslim brothers’ land under Waqf so that they can draw a curtain across Hindu brothers who died or went missing at the Kumbh,” he said. “They should tell us the names of 30 people who died there and about the 1,000 who went missing. Where is the list?”
Mr Yadav said the land “where China has set up villages” is more important than Waqf land. “The government must guarantee that no Waqf land would be used for any other purpose,” he said.
Mr Yadav alleged the Waqf Amendment Bill has been brought so that control of Waqf properties can be handed over to others from the back door. “They want Muslims to feel cornered and BJP gets an opportunity for polarising politics,” he alleged.
A marathon debate is on in Lok Sabha as the House debates the Waqf Amendment Bill that aims to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf properties. The amendments, the Centre has said, are aimed at improving the management of Waqf properties in India.
Congress and other Opposition parties have opposed the legislation. They have said that the Joint Parliamentary Committee set up to examine the Bill did not consider Opposition MPs’ suggestions. They have alleged that the government is rushing ahead with the Bill.
The numbers appear to give an advantage to the ruling BJP in Lok Sabha. The party has 240 MPs, and its key allies TDP and JDU have 16 and 12 MPs, respectively. With other allies, the NDA is expected to score 295 votes, comfortably past the majority mark of 272. The Congress and its allies have around 234 votes.