Waqf bill protests rock Bihar Assembly; Lalu, Tejashwi attend AIMPLB dharna
The protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill rocked the state assembly while the All India Personal Law Board (AIPLB) staged a dharna at Gardanibagh on Wednesday , which was attended by top opposition leaders like RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav , Samajwadi party MP Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi and several other prominent leaders.
In the state assembly, opposition RJD members started protesting against the bill soon after the House sat for the day. Opposition members trooped to the well and started raising slogans , prompting Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav to urge the members to resume to their seats.
The Opposition members continued to raise slogans demanding a rollback of the bill and also “full implementation” of recommendations of the Sachar Committee, in which the poor socio-economic conditions of Muslims were highlighted.
Some of the members also tried to overturn furniture meant for the reporting staff, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House till 2 pm.
In the day, the AIPLB members staged a dharna at Gardanibagh to protest against the Waqf amendment bill, which was attended by RJD chief Lalu Prasad and leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav among other prominent leaders from the opposition parties.
The Opposition leader told the AIMPLB gathering that “we believe in your cause and our party had expressed the same before the Joint Parliamentary Committee when it came to Bihar. We will fight it out till this ‘Nagpuriya’ undemocratic and unconstitutional legislation is rolled back”.
The allusion was to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent body of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
The AIMPLB had recently announced plans to hold protests in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, primarily to goad chief ministers of the two states, Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu, respectively, both of whom swear by their “secular” credentials.
Indirectly targeting Kumar, the 35 year old Yadav scion, said “there are some who are supporting the Bill because of their greed for power… I am proud that I have in my veins the blood of Lalu ji, who has come here despite his body having been worn down by a kidney transplant and heart surgeries”.
The RJD continues to have a traditional vote bank among muslim minorities apart from the party’s traditional vote base in the Yadavs and OBCs as well as other sections. The party has remained steadfast in its opposition to policies of the BJP led NDA government in Bihar and at the centre and had opposed the waqf amendment bill earlier too.
In his addressed, the opposition leader also apprised the dharna that his party had moved an adjournment motion before the assembly on the Waqf issue today. “ The proceedings could not continue long enough for a discussion to take place”.
“We will blow to smithereens the agenda of this government, which is dictatorial and wants to throw the Constitution out of the window. Today, in the name of regulating the Waqf, they are targeting Muslims. Tomorrow, it may be the turn of Christians and Sikhs,” he asserted, adding that his party would try at any cost to the stop the bill from getting its passage from Parliament.
After the RJD leaders left the site of the day-long dharna, the protesters were joined by Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who has promised to field a significant number of Muslims in the Bihar assembly polls due later this year. The dharna was also attended by Samajwadi Party MP Maulanna Mohibullah, Azad Samaj party chief and MP, Chandrashekhar Azad and other prominent leaders.
( win inputs from agencies)
