BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, is scheduled to visit Karnataka on Thursday amid the controversy surrounding notices sent by the state’s waqf board.
Pal had agreed to travel to Hubballi and Bijapur in order to “interact with farmers affected by the predatory action” of the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf, according to a post made on X by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday.
The MP stated that the “Chairman will engage with farmer organizations, Mutts, and petitions presented to him will be placed before JPC.”
This comes as the BJP is protesting the notices the board sent out to clear encroachments in several regions of Karnataka. However, in response to criticism, the Congress administration has chosen to remove the notices.
Karnataka Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge criticized Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje for organizing an overnight protest in Vijayapura with fervent BJP politician Basanagouda Patil Yatnal.
The Union minister, like other BJP officials, called the encroachment clearance notices “land jihad.”
Kharge cited Karandlaje’s unstarred question in the Lok Sabha from 2019, which asked for specifics on the help the Center gave states to digitize waqf records.
When the BJP government used GIS mapping technology to locate WAQF properties in order to remove encroachments, why did she remain silent? Then, did anyone hear the MP protest or voice concerns in Parliament? He posted a picture of the answer to her Lok Sabha question and asked, “What is her opinion on the recommendations of the Committee?”
The work of “GIS Mapping of waqf properties by the State Waqf Boards (SWBs) and IIT, Rookee and AMU, Aligarh, is being carried out effectively and progressively in various states with a goal of digitizing 100% of the waqf properties,” according to the response of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Union minority affairs minister at the time. Encroachment on the waqf holdings would be identified and removed with the aid of GIS mapping.
