Following 120 petitions filed by BJP-RSS activists across the country, challenging the validity of the Waqf Act, now a BJP MP and former RSS zila pracharak,Harnath Singh Yadav brought a private members’ bill that seeks to repeal the Waqf Act, 1995. The bill was intriguingly introduced in the Upper House of Parliament without the presence of several opposition members who needed to vote. Subsequently, some of them claimed they had left the house because it was convened thirty minutes earlier than usual.
Taking advantage of the absence of many opposition members, BJP member Yadav moved to introduce the Waqf Repeal Bill, 2022, arguing that such a law does not exist anywhere in the world and should not be allowed in a secular nation like India. Yadav faced protests from members of Congress, TMC members, DMK, CPI, CPI (M), and RJD as soon as he stood up to introduce the bill. Following a split of votes due to the stark differences over the introduction, the bill was accepted with 53 members voting in favor and 32 against the proposal.
Yadav, who hails from Mainpuri, UP, pushed for the Act’s repeal, arguing that its provisions “violate secularism and unity principles and cause conflict and hatred” in society. The Act was introduced in 1954 to regulate and declare Waqf properties. According to him, the Act’s “unconstitutional” provisions give the board the power to “seize properties owned by people, governments, and religious organizations while preventing them from filing a lawsuit”.
CPI(M) member Elamaram Kareem strongly voiced his opposition to the bill’s introduction and highlighted the concerns of the Muslim community. “I oppose even the introduction of the bill. It is a serious concern among the Muslims that their fundamental rights to keep the waqf assets to themselves are at stake. So, this bill should be rejected,” he said.
Another CPI(M) member John Brittas also opposed the bill, describing it as ‘divisive’. Mohamed Abdulla, a DMK MP, stated that he and his IUML colleague Abdul Wahab were unable to attend the House because it was reconvened at a different time.
“For the last 60–70 years, the House has met at 2.30 p.m. to allow the Muslim members to offer Friday prayers. Now, it has been moved ahead by half an hour, and we were not consulted,” Abdulla said.
When Abdulla brought up the matter, RS Chair Jagdeep Dhankar responded that it was done to make sure that both houses resumed operations simultaneously.
The RS Chairman decided to resume the Rajya Sabha session at 2 p.m., the same time as the Lok Sabha, instead of the customary Friday time of 2.30 p.m. Lawmakers have a chance to introduce bills every Friday, but the majority of private bills are not successful in doing so.
Besides, there are as many as 120 petitions in various courts across the country, challenging the validity of the Waqf Act. In response to the notice by the Delhi High Court on a public interest litigation (PIL), the Union Government told the court in March this year that 120 petitions have been filed across the country on the Waqf Act. The court granted the government time to take appropriate instructions on transfer of the petitions to the Supreme Court.
The bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, while hearing a PIL by former Delhi BJP spokesperson and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, challenging certain provisions of the Waqf Act, asked the Union government counsel to seek instructions on taking steps for the consolidation of all the cases.
Upadhyay, who is known for filing anti-Muslim PILs, argues that the Waqf Act was created in the name of overseeing Waqf properties, despite the fact that adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Judaism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity do not have comparable legal protections.
Upadhyay told the court that the Act was ‘anti-secular’ because no other law existed to manage the assets of other faiths.
All this shows they are desperate to keep the communal pot boiling and divert public attention from the burning issues. They rake up any trivial matter related to the Muslim community like azan, mosque, Muslim Personal law and others.
Former Union Minority Affairs Minister K Rehman Khan termed the private member’s bill absolutely nothing but a mischief. Speaking with Radiance, Khan said the BJP is committing so many mischiefs in order to deflect the people’s attention from real issues. He further said it is a time-tested law and has been in effect since the British era. Citing examples of other laws such as the Hindu Charitable Act, Sikh Gurdwaras, and Religious Endowment Act, 1973, he blasted Yadav’s arguments that Waqf Act provisions ‘violate secularism and unity principles’. Like the Public Property Act, waqf law is there to protect and preserve waqf properties from encroachment and adverse possession, Khan added.
During the 1,000 years of Muslim rule, Waqf properties were created all over the Indian subcontinent. Even today, the Waqf Board is the third largest owner of real estate in the country after the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Defense.
According to the Justice Rajender Sachar Committee’s 2006 report, Waqf Boards own 500,000 properties totaling 600,000 hectares of land worth 12 billion rupees.
Delhi is dotted with Islamic monuments and buildings. According to Delhi Waqf Board records, there are about 1,600 Waqf properties in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.If such properties are not safe in the capital, one can imagine what their condition will be in the rest of the country.
But the Minority Affairs Ministry seems to be least concerned about the state of affairs of waqfs. Even for more than one year, there has been no full-fledged secretary appointed to the Central Waqf Council, and the Waqf Development Corporation has been defunct for the last eight years. Khan said that the present government and the minority ministry are not interested in minority issues.
On the fate of the private bill, Rehman Khan said it would not see the light as there is a lottery system in Rajya Sabha to take up any bill for discussion.
Legislation introduced by MPs other than ministers is known as a private member’s bill. Relatively few private member bills have become laws, despite the fact that the majority of private bills have not been introduced. However, Yadav’s Waqf Repeal Bill, 2022 has all the trappings of mischief ahead of the forthcoming general elections next year.