JPC chairman meets farmers in Hubballi, says fact-finding report to be presented in Parliament

HUBBALLI: Amid the Waqf row, the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, Jagdambika Pal, on Thursday met various farmers’ organisations in Hubballi and said that the fact-finding report will be presented in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.

“We will submit the report in the upcoming (winter) session of Parliament”, Pal said, adding that he was visiting the state to meet farmers after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya invited him. “I came here along with my team on the invitation of Tejasvi Surya. Here, farmers who have had their lands with them for decades are aggrieved. The farmers have been working and cultivating their land since the 1920s. I had come to meet them. My team was in Bengaluru last month, and again tomorrow, I am going to Guwahati”.

#WATCH | The Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, Jagdambika Pal says, ” My full team was in Bengaluru last month, again tomorrow I am going to Guwahati…Tejasvi Surya had invited me Hubbali, Bijapur because of farmers were angry and… https://t.co/1tGoM1C4l9 pic.twitter.com/nbIlQimhAs

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2024

“As chairman of the Waqf Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), if in any state the farmers are aggrieved, I can come and meet them. I can go alone as the chairman to prepare the report and with my committee too. I am going across the country. Our work is preparing a comprehensive report by holding discussions with the stakeholders”, Pal said.

#WATCH | Karnataka | The Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, Jagdambika Pal meets farmers in Hubballi

JPPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal’s visit is amid controversy over notices to farmers’ land as Waqf land in areas like Hubballi and… pic.twitter.com/n2UxgfFSR5

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2024

Jagdambika Pal said that the JPC has received at least one crore memorandums on their online portal. “This is why we are going across the country to talk with the stakeholders”, he added. This comes after Pal met the farmers’ organisations in Hubballi who told him about their grievance over the alleged Waqf land grab issue.

#WATCH | Hubbali-Dharwad: On Waqf Amendment Bill Committee Chairman Jagdambika Pal’s meeting with farmers, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, “This is all a political drama…Land is a state subject. BJP themselves started this in 2019. They had given notices. Even in… pic.twitter.com/bFKlCP6Adi

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2024

Reacting to Jagdambika Pal’s meeting with farmers, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said, “This is all a political drama. Land is a state subject. BJP themselves started this in 2019, they too had given notices. Even in Dharwad, they gave notices, it is the continuation of that. But my government is committed, we will not change any record. We will rectify it. We don’t want to affect any farmers. This has all been started by BJP. They are trying to put the blame on us. The JPC doesn’t have any powers to enter, they might have come for their political purposes”.

Congress MP Mohammad Jawed on Thursday lashed out at JPC Chairman Pal, accusing him of not working in the interest of Parliamentary democracy by taking a “unilateral” decision to visit Karnataka to meet the farmers. He said that the entire JPC team should pay a visit there.

“The entire JPC team should be go there. Who gave him (JPC Chairman Pal) this authority? This is unfortunate. It is not appropriate to take this unilateral and political decision, especially when the Karnataka Government has made it clear that the land will remain with them. It is not appropriate to make it a political issue. JPC Chairman’s action is not in the interest of parliamentary democracy”, said Jawed. (ANI)