Clerics, Opposition denounce tabling of Waqf Amendment Bill

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over tabling of the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Muslim clerics and Opposition parties termed it an attempt to ‘loot’ Waqf properties and a bid to divert the attention of the country from core issues.

On the other hand, the BJP Minority Morcha celebrated the occasion by distributing sweets at the party office in Lucknow.

Tabling the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said the legislation has nothing to do with religion, but deals only with properties.

Islamic Centre of India chairman and All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali has said, “Whatever the Minority Welfare Minister said in Parliament was also very unfortunate as none of the objections raised by us was considered by JPC.”

“The bill, if passed (in the Lok Sabha), will go to Rajya Sabha and there also if it is passed, somehow then we will approach the legal way. Our legal experts have pointed out legal loopholes in the amendments, which are violative of Articles 14, 25, 26 and 29 (of the Constitution). We are sure that Honourable Court will give us justice. The AIMPLB executive committee will decide if there will be any kind of protest against this bill or not,” Khalid Rasheed added.

For his part, UP chief of BJP Minority Morcha, Kunwar Basit Ali said, “This is after 70 years that with the consultation of 1 crore people, amendments have been introduced in the Waqf Bill and that is commendable. The politics of appeasement won’t be possible now. Backwards, women and all sects of the Muslims will get their due representation now in the Waqf.”

Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav termed it as a gimmick to divert attention from other issues.

“The Bhartiya Janata Party keeps bringing such bills to hide its failure and to deliberately start a debate on such issues. They also want that questions should not be asked about the list of the deceased and missing people at the Prayagraj Kumbh,” Yadav said.

“To hide their failures, the BJP keeps on bringing such bills, this time they have come up with Waqf Bill. For those whom this bill is being introduced, they are not being heard. What could be a bigger injustice than this?”

Uttar Pradesh minority welfare minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said that strong and well-off Muslims were taking away the rights of weaker and poor Muslims through Waqf.

“The Opposition parties are opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill because the strong Muslims have the most control of the Waqf property which benefits the opposition parties. They do not want to benefit the common Muslims. The NDA government wants to give the rights to Muslims of India by passing the Waqf Amendment Bill,” he said.