Patna: On the opening day of the winter session of the assembly, legislators of the CPI(ML) Liberation on Monday staged a demonstration outside the House, demanding rollback of the Waqf Bill, which the Centre is likely to bring in the Parliament.
The party MLAs, holding posters, also raised slogans urging the Centre to rethink over the Waqf Bill.
The demonstration was led by CPI(ML) Liberation legislative party leader Mehboob Alam, who called upon CM Nitish Kumar to leverage his influence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's govt to withdraw the proposed Bill.
"All types of public properties used by Muslims like madrasas, kabristan and khankah belong to Waqf. The proposed bill is an assault on the Muslim community by the Centre," Alam alleged.
The Left leader, whose party holds 11 seats in the 243-member assembly and is part of the INDIA bloc, announced that on Tuesday it would bring an adjournment motion.
When questioned, Alam said his party believes CM Nitish Kumar's absence from Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Arshad Madani's local event on Sunday was attributed to scheduling conflicts rather than ideological shifts.
He emphasised that since the Union govt relies on support from Nitish's JD(U), the CM has an ethical responsibility to prevent introduction of the Waqf Bill in the Parliament.
"Besides the Waqf Bill issue, our party members will also raise the issue of deterioration in the law and order situation, cases of atrocities against women, payment of poor remuneration to the workers attached with the Jeevika, and people facing harassment due to certain defects in the smart prepaid meters," Alam told TOI outside the house.