Jagdambika Pal, chairperson of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, met farmers’ delegations in Karnataka on Thursday (November 7) following allegations that some land in the state was marked as Waqf property without the owners’ consent.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) described these actions as “Ground Jihad”.

According to Pal, his presence in Karnataka is part of a “fact-finding visit”.

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who had asked Pal to address farmers’ grievances, announced the visit on social media.

The visit includes Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi where he plans to meet the affected farmers and other stakeholders.

“North Karnataka farmers… handed over a memorandum saying that a piece of land that belonged to them, the Waqf Board claims as theirs,” Pal said news agency YEARS.

He added that some farmers claim to have owned these lands “for more than 50-70 years”.

“Today, I joined JPC President Sri Jagdambika Pal in Hubballi to meet local delegations of farmers who are adversely affected by the Waqf Board’s recent claims on their ancestral lands. Farmers have expressed concern that their land has been designated as Waqf property without prior notice or legal process. . The JPC has been actively meeting all stakeholders to understand all aspects of the existing law and the proposed amendments, we will also meet the farmers of Vijayapura and Belagavi,” Surya said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar dismissed the BJP’s allegation of “land jihad” against the Congress government and the protests against it as “political drama”.

“BJP itself started this in 2019. But my government is committed, we will not change any record… They are trying to blame us,” Shivakumar claimed.

Shivakumar argued that the parliamentary committee has no authority to intervene in the state’s land affairs, saying, “The JPC has no power to step in; could have come for their political purposes”.

BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje expressed her support for Pal’s visit on Twitter, saying, “This ‘land terrorism’ must end! I request the President to listen to our farmers and Swamiji and find a permanent solution”.

The parliamentary committee is scheduled to visit several cities such as Lucknow and Hyderabad from November 9 to November 14 to meet stakeholders and prepare a report on the contentious issue.

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