The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on Sunday urged Telugu Desam Party leader N Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar to consider sentiments of the Muslim community while deciding on support for the Waqf Amendment Bill, PTI reported.
If the bill is passed in Parliament, the “two crutches” supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government will not be able to escape the responsibility, the Muslim organisation’s chief Maulana Arshad Madani said at the Save Constitution Convention event in New Delhi.
The “two crutches” remark was a reference to the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United) that are part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
“If the Waqf Bill is passed ignoring the emotions of the Muslims, it would be as much a responsibility of the crutches as it would be of other powers at the Centre,” PTI quoted Madani as saying.
“People of the country defeated the BJP,” Madani said. “They did not accept their policies. This government is dependent on two crutches: a strong one is Chandrababu and the other is Bihar’s Nitish Kumar.”
Naidu is chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and Kumar of Bihar.
The 44 amendments in the bill, tabled in Parliament in August, propose to curb the authority of waqf boards, allow greater control by the government, allow non-Muslims to be members of the boards, restrict the donation of properties, and change how waqf tribunals function.
A waqf is a property given for a religious, educational or charitable cause by Muslims. In India, waqfs are governed under the Waqf Act. Each state has a Waqf Board led by a legal entity, who is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer a property. The Act was last amended in 2013.
The bill has been opposed by leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc and Muslim groups including Jamiat Ulema e Hind, who said it violated the right to freedom of religion and the freedom to manage religious affairs, among others.
After objections from the Opposition, the draft legislation was referred to a joint parliamentary committee on August 8 for further consultation.
On Sunday, Madani said that he had invited Naidu to the event, however the Andhra Pradesh chief minister had instead sent the Telugu Desam Party Vice President Nawab Jan.
‘Will not let a bill that harms Muslims’, says TDP
Jan said that Naidu is a person of “a secular mindset” and “will not let a bill that harms Muslims be implemented”, PTI reported.
The decision to send the Waqf Amendment Bill to the joint parliamentary committee was made because of Naidu’s efforts, Jan said. “We will tolerate everything, but will not tolerate any attempt to harm the unity of the country,” PTI quoted him as saying.
Madani said that the INDIA bloc and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said during the Lok Sabha election campaign that if the alliance was elected, all minorities will be free to practise their religion.
“That is why I urged Muslims to support the alliance [during the Lok Sabha polls] that gives them the freedom to practise their religion and I am happy that Muslims supported the alliance throughout the country,” Madani said. “The alliance moved forward and the BJP was defeated.”
Without the support of Naidu and Kumar, the BJP would not have been able to form a government, the Jamiat chief added.
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