The Waqf Amendment Bill presented in Parliament invited sharp criticism from the opposition parties.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav opposed the bill both inside and outside Parliament, saying it was just an excuse to sell land in the interest of Bharatiya Janata Party members. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also opposed the bill, saying it should be sent to the Standing Committee of Parliament.
Akhilesh Yadav said on Thursday that the saffron party was working like a real estate company. He also suggested that the BJP should rename itself as “Bharatiya Zameen Party".
In a post on X, Yadav alleged that the target of the bill that seeks to amend provisions of the Waqf Act, 1995, was to sell defence, railway, Nazul land.
“Waqf Board lands are just another link in the chain of schemes for the benefit of BJP members after defence land, railway land, Nazul land,” he said in Hindi.
Yadav added. “A guarantee should be provided in writing that Waqf Board lands will not be sold.”
He accused the BJP of trying to snatch the rights of Muslims through the bill.
“The BJP’s only work is to divide Hindus and Muslims, snatch the rights of Muslim brothers and work on how to snatch the rights given to them in the Constitution,” he said.
Akhilesh asked in Parliament what was the justification of making a non-Muslim a member in the Waqf Board. He also raised questions on giving all the power to the district magistrate, saying everyone knows what a district magistrate did at one place, the consequences of which the coming generation would have to face.
He said that the truth was that BJP was desperate and disappointed and in that same frustration and disappointment, it was trying to bring this bill.
Mayawati targeted the BJP as well as Congress, saying many types of messages and apprehensions have come up regarding the Waqf Amendment Bill and in such a situation, the bill should be sent to the Standing Committee of Parliament.
The government should not hurry on such a sensitive issue, she added.
Mayawati wrote on the social media platform X that the forceful interference by the Central and UP governments in the matters of mosques, madrasas, waqfs etc. and taking excessive interest in religious matters like temples, madrasas and monasteries is against the Constitution and its principle of secularism. The government should fulfill its national duty, she added.
Mayawati said the Congress and the BJP had done a lot of politics under the guise of temple-mosque, caste, religion and communal frenzy etc. and had also taken a lot of electoral advantage of it.
Now is the time to prove true patriotism by focusing on poverty, unemployment, inflation, backwardness, she added.
It may be mentioned that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill seeks to omit Section 40 of the current law relating to the powers of the board to decide if a property is Waqf property. It provides for a broad-based composition of the Central Waqf Council and the state Waqf Boards and ensures the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
The bill also proposes the establishment of a separate board of Auqaf for the Bohras and Aghakhanis. The draft law provides for the representation of Shias, Sunnis, Bohras, Agakhanis and other backward classes among Muslim communities. It also aims to clearly define 'Waqf' as "Waqf by any person practising Islam for at least five years and having ownership of such property".
One of its objectives is streamlining the manner of registration of Waqfs through a central portal and database. A detailed procedure is established for mutation as per revenue laws with due notice to all concerned before recording any property as a Waqf property. The Wakf Act of 1995, was brought to regulate 'Auqaf (assets donated and notified as Waqf)' by a 'wakif (a person who dedicates a property for any purpose recognised by Muslim law as religious or charitable)'. The law was last amended in 2013.
