Kiren Rijiju, the Minister of Minority Affairs, introduced the Waqf Bill (Amendment) Act, 2024 in Lok Sabha on Thursday, 8 August 2024. The bill aims to bring changes to the Waqf Act of 1995. According to Rijiju, it will assist the inclusion of Muslim women and the backward Muslim classes in the Waqf board, giving a fairer representation of the community. He highlighted the need to include “technological updates” and “member of parliament” along with representation of “non-muslims”.
Rijiju stated that he is open to the scrutiny of the proposed bill and shall discuss the ideas of the opposition in the bill’s vision.
What is Waqf?
Under Islamic law, the land can be given as charity to be used for religious or pious purposes without any rights of reclamation. This act is called waqf and the doer is referred to as a waqif.
What’s Proposed in the Amendment Bill?
The bill aims at administrating the Waqf boards effectively, removing encroachments. Rijiju pointed out the recommendations made by committees like ‘High Level Committee’ and ‘Joint Parliament Committee’ existing from the time of Congress’s reign and stated that the proposed amendments are in accordance with those suggestions.
The bill seeks to enable any individual who has been practicing Islam for 5 years to exercise waqf without robbing women of their right to inheritance. For a transparent record of audit and accounts, the responsibility is to be shifted to the Collector. The management of waqf properties is proposed to be done through a central portal and database. It also seeks to “reform the tribunal with two members”. The timeline of ninety days is also added to “provide for appeals” made at the high court for challenging the decisions of the tribunal.
Along with the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the minister proposed a new name for the Waqf Act, 1995 as the “Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and development Act, 1995.” He called it “UMEED” in short.
Why is the Bill being Opposed?
The amendment bill proposed by Rijiju is being strongly opposed by opposition leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi because even when it’s coming from the minister of “minority affairs”, it does not seem to be in the favor of the minorities. A question arises, how does the Waqf Amendment Bill propose to hamper religious freedom?
It has been highlighted by some members of the parliament that passing and implementing the bill would lead to the violation of articles ‘14’, ‘15’, ‘25’ and ‘26’ of the Indian Constitution which give citizens the right to freedom of religion and equality.
Iqra Munawwar Hasan representing the Samajwadi Party told the media, “The shift of power to district authorities…I don’t think it helps anybody. We are totally against it. This is just interference because the government faced a big defeat in UP and this is their way to avenge that. The first attack is done on minorities. It’s not just an attack on minorities but also on the constitution, article ‘14’, ‘25’, ‘26’. It’s a direct attack.”
K.C. Venugopal, Congress leader, argued in the Lok Sabha that if ‘waqf by use’ is removed, “there is going to be dispute in each and every mosque where there is no deal.” He added, “Your fundamental idea is to create conflict and create anger between the communities and make violence everywhere.”
