NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal (United) said on Tuesday that the changes suggested by it have been accepted by the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and accused the opposition of politicising the issue.The BJP’s allies like the Telugu Desam Party, JD(U) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had come around to endorsing the bill with some amendments in the committee’s meeting on Monday.All the three parties had refrained from wholeheartedly endorsing the bill when it was introduced in Parliament during the Monsoon Session last year and had pushed for a wider consultation to allay concerns of the Muslim community.JD(U) spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said, “Whatever the JD(U) suggested in the bill, it was all accepted. The amendments will have our suggestions. We don’t have any complaints regarding the functioning of the JPC. The opposition has a habit to politicise every issue.”JD(U) MP Dileshwar Kamait had moved the amendment to the bill’s clause which had made it mandatory for Waqf properties to be listed with details on the portal within six months of the new law coming into force.Kamait’s proposal that ‘mutawalli’ (caretaker) of the property be allowed to seek an extension if the reasons cited by him satisfies the Waqf tribunal.He had co-sponsored the amendment with BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi, and it was endorsed by the panel with a majority vote, sources said.
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