Proposal to amend Waqf law in India draws sharp reaction

ANKARA (AA) – A bill proposed to the parliament by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government seeking to amend the law governing Waqf boards has come under sharp focus, drawing criticism.

Experts liken the move to a “takeover” of the autonomous bodies by the government. The Waqf boards are responsible for maintaining Muslim properties in the country.

Muslim leaders and experts in India have questioned the move which is seen as one “curtailing” the powers of the Waqf boards.

M.R. Shamshad, the lawyer-on-record at the Supreme Court of India, said that contemporary India has “witnessed that various malicious campaigns are being undertaken against the very concept of Waqf.”

The “prejudice has gone to the extent that the government has brought this draconian amendment to the existing Waqf laws,” he noted.

The BJP government has proposed to amend the Waqf 1995 act.

It proposes huge changes such as allowing the government to regulate Waqf properties and to change the composition of Waqf boards in the provinces, local English daily The Indian Express reported.

According to the government-run Waqf Assets Management System of India, there are currently 356,047 registered Waqf estates, 872,321 immovable properties, and 16,713 movable properties in the country.

Shamshad said: “Waqf properties are completely self-owned properties of Muslims but the government is now trying to take it over through state mechanism by giving all the powers to the same collector, who orders to bulldoze the houses of minorities without following any rules.

“This kind of vast power of the collector cannot be expected to serve the cause of Muslims from their own properties. By taking up different issues of Muslims, they are being subjected to continuous vulnerability day by day,” he said.

Parliament member and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Asaduddin Owaisi said the “amendments tell us that the Modi government wants to snatch away the autonomy of the Waqf and they want to interfere to run the property of the waqf.”

“It is against the freedom of religion,” he said.

Several opposition parties, including the main Indian National Congress party, too have criticized the federal government’s move.

The opposition party All India Trinamool Congress said it will oppose the bill in the parliament.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, said the bill is the “need of the hour.”

“Within the framework of the constitution, this Bill is being brought and it will strengthen the path of development,” he said.

Indian Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government has held multi-layered country-wide consultations on this bill and the opposition was “misleading Muslims.”