New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) BJP ally the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on Wednesday backed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, saying it is not against any religion or religious community but for managing properties to ensure the welfare of Muslims.
Participating in the debate on the consideration and passing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, LJP (Ram Vilas) MP Arun Bharti said the bill is aimed at transparency and accountability. He accused the opposition of highlighting only religious aspect of the Waqf, an endowment made by Muslims for religiously charitable and pious purposes, ignoring its social, legal, financial and administrative sides.
Unlike the JD(U), another regional party from Bihar, the LJP was more circumspect in its endorsement of the bill. Bharti noted that his party president and Union minister Chirag Paswan had called for an extensive debate on the proposed law and demanded that it be sent to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny when it was introduced in Parliament in August last year.
He claimed that the opposition parties are scaring Muslims by alleging that the government will grab their religious properties. These parties are doing so to secure their vote bank, he added.
The opposition, he said, is not interested in debating the backwardness among Muslims and inefficient managements of massive Waqf properties spread across the country.
Bharti said a tiny city state like Singapore generates Rs 42 crore from Waqf properties, while India does only Rs 163 crore.
Citing examples of Muslim countries like Turkiye, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, he said these nations effected reforms in Waqf management as well so that its assets could be used more productively.
He said an honest attempt is needed to bring poor and backward Muslims in the national mainstream.
He said Muslim clerics have targeted Paswan for supporting to the bill, even though it was his father Ram Vilas Paswan who had risked his party's existence in 2005 by insisting on supporting only a Muslim as Bihar chief minister.