INDIAN OPPOSITION SLAMS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ CHANGES TO MUSLIM WAQF LAW

Thu 03 April 2025:

Opposition parties in India have condemned an “unconstitutional” amendment of laws governing Muslim religious endowments, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) described the move as a “historic reform.”

Despite criticism and demands for protest, the Modi-led government introduced the Waqf Amendment Bill in the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, on Wednesday. Lawmakers passed the bill in a 288-232 vote. The bill now moves to the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling party holds a majority.

Waqf refers to land or property donated by Muslims for religious, educational, or charitable use.

The vote followed a 12-hour debate that stretched past midnight.

Sonia Gandhi, a senior leader of the opposition Congress Party, said the law was “a brazen assault on the Constitution.”

“It is very much part of the BJP’s deliberate strategy to keep our society in a state of permanent polarization,” she said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Subhashini Ali accused the government of using the bill to polarize voters ahead of state elections in Bihar.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said his party plans to challenge the legislation in the Supreme Court. Lawmakers in the Tamil Nadu assembly earlier passed a resolution opposing the amendments.

Mahua Moitra, a lawmaker from the opposition All India Trinamool Congress, said: “The Waqf Bill tells every Indian Muslim: ‘You are not an equal citizen of India, know your place, your rights are not the same as ours.’”

“Never felt so sad, so ashamed as I did in Lok Sabha yesterday,” she wrote on X.

BJP welcomed the passage.

“This bill was a long-pending reform. This truly heralds a new dawn for India and especially the Muslim community,” said BJP lawmaker Tejasvi Surya, calling it a “historic reform.”

Earlier Wednesday, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah accused opposition parties of “spreading the misconception that this bill is an interference in the religious activities of Muslims and the property donated by them.”

He said the opposition was “trying to build its vote bank by scaring the minority community” and the government “does not want to interfere in the religious activities of Muslim brothers.”

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a prominent Muslim body, rejected the bill. It said it is “discriminatory, communally motivated, and a blatant infringement on the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens,” and urged protests against the changes.

-Source: AA

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