New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- A bill proposing controversial amendments to India's foreign contribution law was referred to a 31-member joint committee of Parliament on Wednesday amid a standoff between the government and the Opposition and repeated disruptions in the House. The penultimate day of the monsoon session began with Union home minister Amit Shah saying he was ready for a discussion on students' protests and police action, only for the Opposition - which has been demanding his statement in the House and another debate on the Ram Temple donation row - to rebuff the offer. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government is ready for discussions. The House should be allowed to run, the Opposition should submit a letter to the speaker by 2pm today. We are ready to start discussion at 3pm today," Shah said in a rare media interaction outside Parliament. Shah also wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla conveying the government's readiness to participate in the discussion, only for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to call it a "last-minute attempt" and say that the Opposition was not interested in listening to Shah's lecture. The monsoon session is set to end on Thursday. The government indicated that it will not be extended and added that the Opposition's views will be sought. Introduced in the previous session but held back at the time, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill triggered major controversy with the Opposition, several church delegations and three chief ministers of Christian-majority states raising concerns. Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai -- and not Shah, as originally listed in the supplementary list of business -- introduced a resolution in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday afternoon to form the 31-member JPC with 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member is expected to lead the panel. The Opposition -- which tried to pressurise the government to scrap the bill -- said it will join the JPC. "Even in the JPC, we will continue to strongly oppose this bill and will not allow these unconstitutional and coercive provisions to become law," said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. "On one side, the RSS is getting donations from foreign countries, while on the other side, the government is trying to target minorities and NGOs. The government should withdraw this bill," he added. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju hit back, saying that the Congress and others had been demanding for days that the bill be referred to a JPC. "Yet, even when we are referring such an important bill (to a panel), these people have objections. If KC Venugopal or a member of any other party finds anything objectionable in this bill, or if there is any point they wish to oppose, they can present their views in the JPC. The JPC will have sufficient time; hearings will be held, and other people will also be invited to participate. Instead of being pleased about this, they are speaking against it." The minister denied any pressure on the government to refer the contentious bill to a House panel and argued that the decision was taken to allow extensive discussion. Later in the day, he attacked the Opposition. "I am totally frustrated. For the first time in my life, I am witnessing a scenario where the government wants a discussion in Parliament, yet the Opposition is running away from it. It is hard to imagine this, because in a parliamentary democracy, it is the Opposition that demands a discussion while the government provides the answers," Rijiju told reporters. "We are saying that if the Congress states even tomorrow morning at 11:00am that they are ready for the discussion, we will extend the time. You should ask Congress why they got scared and why they fled," he added. Gandhi alleged that Shah lacked the courage to come to Parliament, reiterating the demand that Shah come to the House and speak on police excesses at Jantar Mantar....