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Key BJP ally Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday delivered a full-throated endorsement of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha and accused opposition parties of trying to set a narrative that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anti-Muslim.
Union minister Lalan Singh claimed that the proposed amendments are in the interest of 'pasmanda' (backward Muslims) and the poor and women among the minority religion. It will bring transparency, he asserted.
"Pasmandas will stand with Modi in the coming days as they received justice under his government," he said, adding that the opposition may not like the prime minister but people do.
The former JD(U) president also slammed the criticism of his party's principal figure and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and attempts to question his secularism for the regional party's support to the bill.
He said nobody has done as much for Muslims in Bihar as Kumar did in his nearly 20 years of tenure, be it boosting their education, ensuring justice in the Bhagalpur riot cases and delineating their graveyards.
"The Janata Dal (United) and Nitish Kumar do not need your certificate of secularism. Your secularism is about dividing the society for votes," he said, targeting opposition parties.
Kumar did this in Bihar with the support of the BJP, he added.
Opposition parties have pitched for caste census but they should tell the share of 'pasmanda' in Waqf boards, he said.
Singh said Minorities Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju deserved applaud for "saving" the buildings of the Supreme Court, Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhawan as these might have been claimed as Waqf properties.
He said the critics of the bill include either people who use religious matters for votes or those who have grabbed Waqf assets and are now set to lose the control.
He said attempts are being made to set a narrative that the proposed law is anti-Muslim, accusing opposition parties of seeking to vitiate the atmosphere in the country over the issue.
Waqf, he said, is not a religious organisation but a trust working in the interest of Muslims.
