Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA), the tribal wing of the RSS, congratulated the Central government for protecting tribal land in the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025. File
Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA), the tribal wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Thursday (April 3, 2025) congratulated the Central government for protecting tribal land in the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and debate on the same was going on in the Rajya Sabha till the time of filing this report.
Home Minister Amit Shah in his speech in the Lok Sabha has stated that as per Schedules 5 and 6, tribal lands will be protected. He also said that the land belonging to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and concerned department will be secured in the Bill along with the private property of ordinary citizens. He also clarified that only one’s own property can be donated, meaning Waqf cannot acquire private property without ownership. To ensure transparency, the Bill includes a mandatory information disclosure process in the Waqf Act.
Thanking the government for safeguarding the tribal land, the VKA said that the organisation has presented its views before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and pressed the demand that the land of tribal community must be protected.
“A large amount of Waqf land and properties have been registered in the tribal areas of the fifth and sixth schedules of the Constitution which is the violation of the Constitution and the law. Only after knowing this fact, the JPC had recommended to the government in its report that provisions for the protection of tribal lands should be made in the Waqf Bill,” Satyendra Singh, national president of VKA, said.
He added that it is because of the efforts of the organisation that Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced in the Lok Sabha that the land of the tribes will remain outside the purview of Waqf in the tribal areas of the fifth and sixth schedules of the Constitution.
Published – April 03, 2025 10:50 pm IST