New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended for one day from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, for his alleged unruly and violent conduct during a meeting of the panel Tuesday, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources, high drama ensued during the meeting as Banerjee, the TMC MP from West Bengal’s Serampore, allegedly smashed a glass bottle during a heated argument with Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the BJP MP from West Bengal’s Tamluk who had resigned as a judge of the Kolkata High Court in March this year to enter electoral politics.
The argument, it is learnt, started when the panel was listening to the views of a group of retired judges and lawyers from Odisha. Opposition MPs raised questions about their stake in the bill, which is when Banerjee and Gangopadhyay allegedly used “unparliamentary” language for each other. The TMC leader injured his fingers when he smashed a glass water bottle and was immediately administered first aid.
Banerjee refused to talk to reporters about the incident. Earlier in the day, soon after he was administered first aid, Banerjee was seen being escorted back to the meeting room by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and AAP’s Sanjay Singh.
Panel chairperson Jagdambika Pal, meanwhile, slammed Banerjee for his ‘unruly’ behaviour.
“It was a big incident; for the first time, we had to adjourn the meeting out of compulsion … what message has gone to the country and his (TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee) party should also think about the behaviour of its member. There is no place for violence in democracy….,” Pal told ANI.
It is learnt that the panel Tuesday passed a resolution suspending Banerjee for a day.
Sources said Pal told Banerjee there is no place for “violence in parliamentary democracy” and that he had apprised Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the incident.
A JPC member, requesting anonymity, claimed some of those invited by JPC have nothing to do with the Waqf bill. The member cited the meeting held on 14 October in which Anwar Manippady, former chairman of Karnataka State Minorities Commission, was called to present his views. Opposition MPs, said the member, had staged a walkout after Manippady, instead of talking about the bill, levelled allegations against the Congress government in Karnataka and party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Opposition MPs had also written to the Speaker alleging “gross violation of parliamentary code of conduct” in the JPC meeting and accused Pal of conducting the proceedings in a “biassed and partisan manner”.
Pal told ANI Tuesday, “I give everyone a chance to speak. I never stopped them. But who speaks 4-5 times in a meeting? Owaisi said he will speak for an hour and I allowed him … this is for the first time they are levelling allegations against me to hide their crimes…”
He also said he would resign as chairperson of the panel if members felt he was treating them unfairly.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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