NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has strongly condemned the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, adding that it would be detrimental rather than beneficial for Muslims.
“The AIMPLB and other Muslim organisations have conveyed their concerns over the Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), but they were not considered. Following this, protests were held in cities, including Delhi and Patna, where demonstrators symbolically wore black bands to emphasise their dissent,” senior executive member AIMPLB Maulana Khalid Rashi Farangi Mahali said on Wednesday.
“It would be detrimental rather than beneficial for Muslims,” he believed.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, introduced by the BJP-led government, proposes significant changes to the management and legal protections of Waqf properties.
Expressing grave concerns over the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, politician Mehbooba Mufti said that for the past decade, Muslims in India have faced increasing persecution, including the demolition of mosques, lynching incidents, and encroachments on graveyards.
Muslims fear that it grants the government unprecedented control over the movable or immovable properties donated by Muslims for religious and charitable purposes.
During Ramadan prominent Muslim organisations across India have announced a boycott of all political iftar parties in protest against a proposed amendment bill that grants the government unprecedented control over the moveable or immovable properties donated by Muslims for religious and charitable purposes.
The amendment bill having passed through the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) without accepting any changes or suggestions from Opposition MPs, the bill is expected to trigger protests both inside and outside Parliament.
Muslim organisations and legal experts believe that a closer examination of the new amendments suggests a subtle encroachment on the religious freedom of Muslims, thereby undermining the core principles of secularism.
In January this year, in Ujjain, a city located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, authorities demolished nearly 250 properties, including homes, shops, and a century-old mosque, in order to clear a 2.1-hectare (5.27-acre) plot of land.
India, home to more than 200 million Muslims, has the largest number of waqf assets in the world – more than 872,000 properties, spanning nearly 405,000 hectares (1 million acres), with an estimated value of about $14.22bn. They are managed by Waqf boards in every state and federally-run territory.
In 2023, Modi inaugurated a controversial temple in Ayodhya at the site of the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992.
