Source of large Waqf Bill feedback sent to parliamentary panel must be probed: BJP’s Nishikant Dubey
The ‘orchestrated effort’ undermines the purpose of seeking public feedback, Dubey said on the 1.2 crore representations received by the committee.
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Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey has called for an investigation into the source of nearly 1.2 crore feedback submissions that the joint parliamentary committee scrutinising the 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill received, PTI reported on Wednesday.
Dubey, the Lok Sabha member from Jharkhand’s Godda, said that the investigation must cover the possible roles of fundamentalist organisations, individuals such as preacher and televangelist Zakir Naik and foreign entities such as Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence and China, PTI reported.
The BJP leader said this in a letter written to the parliamentary committee’s chairperson Jagdambika Pal. Dubey is a member of the panel.
Dubey said that the origins of the submissions needed immediate attention, claiming that it was statistically improbable that such an overwhelming response could come organically from within the country alone, PTI reported.
“It is not uncommon for special interest groups, both foreign and domestic, to use this tactic to saturate the legislative process with pre-drafted suggestions or demands, giving the illusion of mass public support,” he was quoted as having told Pal. “This orchestrated effort undermines the very purpose of soliciting genuine public feedback.”
The BJP leader said that there are reasons to suspect that “these elements are leveraging the Waqf Bill deliberations to sow discord and polarise public opinion”, adding...
