Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi protest against Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 outside Makar Dwar during the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
A majority of Muslim MPs on Wednesday (April 2, 2025) objected to the clause allowing non-Muslims to be part of Waqf Boards in the Waqf (amendment) Bill.
Participating in the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared a war on his community.
He said the Bill violated Constitutional provisions. “You are saying that Hindu and Jain boards will have only their community members but not the Waqf board”.
He questioned the clause mandating that a person can create a Waqf property only if he is a practising Muslim for five years.
Mr. Owaisi said the aim of the Bill was to make Muslims second-grade citizens of India.
Giving the example of the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi, Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh Imran Masood said: “The temple is managed by a committee that is headed by the District Collector. However, there is a provision that if the Collector is a non-Hindu, an official below or above takes charge”.
Terming the Bill as unconstitutional, Mr. Masood questioned how the government would register Waqf properties within six months when the same could not be done in the last 10 years.
Another Congress MP, Mohammad Jawed, said the government was trying to snatch Waqf properties from Muslims and it was unfortunate that BJP allies, the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party, were supporting this.
“They are changing some clauses which will lead to continuous conflict. So, wherever they want, they will create trouble”.
He said that the Joint Parliamentary Committee did not discuss the Bill clause by clause. “This government is targeting Muslims since it has come [to power]… Whether it is the CAA [Citizenship (Amendment) Act] or Places of Worship Act or triple talaq…. They want to take away the rights of the Muslims and scare them”.
Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Chaudhary said the Bill was not for the welfare of Muslims but aimed at destroying their heritage and existence. “By removing the ‘Waqf by User’ clause, lakhs of properties would lose their status and poor people will be on streets”.
E.T.M Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League said that the government was calling itself the champion of minorities “but it was this government that has tortured the minorities in India physically, socially and mentally. They are planning to do further injustice to Muslims”. “This is a regressive Bill,” Mr. Basheer said.
Samajwadi Party MP Zia ur Rahman Barq too questioned the idea behind having people from other communities in Waqf Boards. “Will you keep Muslims in other religious boards as well? he asked.
Published – April 03, 2025 12:14 am IST