Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said for the sake of vote bank politics, fear is being spread that the Waqf bill is an interference in the religious matters of Muslims. He was making an intervention in the Lok Sabha during a debate on the Waqf amendment bill, which was moved by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju for consideration and passage.
“To those who give big speeches saying that the right to equality has ended, that there will be discrimination between two religions, or that the religious rights of Muslims will be interfered with, I want to tell them that nothing like that is going to happen,” Shah said. The bill has been reworked based on the recommendations of a Joint Committee.
He underlined that the Waqf is a type of charitable institution where a person donates his or her property for social, religious or public welfare purposes, without the right to take it back. A vote bank is being created by intimidating minorities and spreading confusion in the country by creating an atmosphere of fear among the minorities.
“There was no provision earlier to include non-Muslims among those who run religious institutions, nor is the NDA government going to do so,” he said. He reminded the Waqf law was made ‘extreme’ in 2013 for appeasement ahead of parliamentary polls and if the law was not tweaked then, the present bill might not have been needed.
Earlier, Rijiju said the legislation has nothing to do with religion, but deals only with properties. “The government is not going to interfere in any religious institution. The changes made in the Waqf law by the UPA government gave it overriding effect over other statutes, hence the new amendments were required,” Rijiju said amid noisy opposition protest, adding, “You (opposition) tried to mislead the people on issues which are not part of the Waqf Bill.”
He also claimed the consultation process of the JPC was the largest ever exercise carried out by a parliamentary panel in India’s democratic history. The minister said more than 97.27 lakh petitions and memorandums were received by the JPC through physical and online formats and the JPC had gone through each of them before finalising its report.
“Waqf controls the third largest pool of properties in the country, after the Railways and defence. The Railways and defence properties belong to the nation, but Waqf properties are private in nature. It is unfair to compare them with the land banks of the Railways and armed forces,” he said.
The minister further alleged that ordinary Muslims were misled for vote-bank politics for 70 years as no benefits were received by them from such a large land bank. “Why are the Waqf properties not used for the benefit and welfare of the ordinary, poor and downtrodden Muslims? These properties will have to be used for the welfare of the common Muslims,” Rijiju said.
As of 2004, a total of 4.9 lakh properties were held by the Waqf and their income was just ₹163 crore, he said. After the 2013 amendment, the minister said, the income has gone up by just ₹3 crore to ₹166 crore.
“We can’t accept such meagre income from such a huge bank of properties. The income should have been at least ₹12,000 crore. Waqf property has to be used for poor Muslims, and the Waqf Bill is needed to achieve this purpose,” he said.
