As security has been tightened in Uttar Pradesh, and the police carried out a flag march in Varanasi, there have been various views on the proposed amendments to the Waqf Act which is set to be discussed in Parliament on Wednesday.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the government has brought in the bill to distract people from other matters. He alleged that the government first sold land that belonged to the railways, then that of the armed forces and now it wanted to sell off Waqf land.
Watch: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju says, "...This bill that we are discussing is not a new subject. The history of this matter dates back to before independence... Later, in 1930, the Muslim Waqf Validating Act was introduced, emphasizing the role of family waqf. After… pic.twitter.com/zuT0bL9d5K
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Ittehad-e-Millat Council president Maulana Tauqeer Raza accused the government of wanting to please a “certain religion” through the bill. He said while there were flaws in the Waqf Board, the solution was to reform the board. Raza accused the government of eyeing Waqf land in the guise of the bill.
Sufi Kashish Warsi, national president of the Indian Sufi Foundation, meanwhile supported the bill, saying it would end the misdeeds of what he has labelled the ‘Waqf mafia’. He accused the board of not building any houses or institutions that benefit Muslims.
National president of All India Muslim Jamaat, Maulana Shahabuddin Barelvi claimed that Muslims have nothing to fear and that they should refrain from trusting those who were doing “vote bank politics.” He said land mafia has been occupying Waqf properties and it is this element which is most scared. He has also appealed to the government to build hospitals, orphanages, schools and other such institutions on Waqf land that will benefit the community.
