Lok Sabha witnesses heated exchanges over Waqf Bill
Image credit Sansad TV
Opposition alleges Waqf Board bill eyes Assembly polls
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, August 8: Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed heated exchanges between the ruling BJP and the Opposition over the Waqf Board amendment bill. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed the Opposition claims that the bill violates the Article 25 of the Constitution that guarantees right to practice one’s religion.
The Opposition accused the government of meddling in the affairs of the Muslim community. The government asserted that parliament has passed several amendments to the Waqf Board in the past.
Rijiju asserted that the bill is a genuine reform in the management of the Waqf properties in India. “I want to tell this House with full responsibility that whatever provisions are there in this bill, there is no interference in the freedom of any religious institution from Article 25 to 30,” added Rijiju.
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Union minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah and the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also sparred during the discussion over the introduction of the bill.
The Lok Sabha witnessed stiff opposition to the introduction of ‘The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024’. “The Waqf Amendment Bill is not being introduced in this House for the first time. The Act was introduced after independence in 1954. After that many amendments were made. We are bringing a bill to amend the 1995 law because in 2013 such provisions were introduced which changed the nature of the Waqf Act 1995,” added Rijiju.
The minister asserted that “whatever provisions are there in this bill, there is no interference in the freedom of any religious body from Article 25 to 2030”. “Nor has any article of the Constitution been violated in this and now I would like to cite a case of the Supreme Court,” added the minister. He said: “Brahmachari versus State of West Bengal. In this, the Supreme Court has clearly given a ruling about religious denomination and under that ruling, the Wakf Board does not fall within the perspective of Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India.”
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Rijiju said that the “bill has been brought to give rights to those who have not got the rights. It has provisions for women, children and those who are backward in the Muslim society. Those who have never got a chance till date, who are kept suppressed”.
He stated that the “amendment that we are going to bring in the House today is the Wakf Act 1995, which was amended in 2013, the whole purpose, intention and purpose of this Act. By reversing it, such a provision was inserted in 2013, due to which we have to come here in the House today with this amendment”.
Rijiju stated that “the 1919 Amendment Act has been totally ineffective, and the surveys were not being conducted for the purpose for which the Act was brought, and many mistakes and flaws have been found in it”.
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The AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi opposed the introduction of the bill under Rules 72. “This House does not have the competence to make these amendments this Bill, which patently violates the principles provided in articles 14, 15 and 25. It is both discriminatory and arbitrary,” added Owaisi. He stated that the bill “is a grave attack on the basis structure of the Constitution as it violates the principle of judicial independence separation of powers”.
The Congress also opposed the introduction of the bill. “Fundamentally, this is an attack on the constitution,” said the Congress MP K C Venugopal. He also objected to the provision in the bill for including non-Muslims in the management board of the Waqf properties.
Venugopal said that the bill has been brought with eyes on the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. He also asked if non-Hindus can be part of the management of the Hindu temples.
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