The Waqf Board Amendment Bill will be passed in the winter session of Parliament. The violence in Sambhal has given further advantage to the BJP’s agenda. Because the roots of the dispute between Sambhal’s Jama Masjid and Harihar temple also lie in this appeasement. After the victory in the Maharashtra elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his speech at the BJP headquarters, attacked the Congress’s appeasement policy in the name of the Waqf Board law. The most important thing was how the Congress had strangled Baba Saheb’s Constitution to do vote bank politics. In which there was no place for any system like Waqf.
1- Congress targets Modi on the pretext of Waqf Board.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers a speech at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in Delhi after the Maharashtra election results, he makes harsh comments not only on his political opponents but also on many political issues on their behalf. Modi says that “when India became independent, the foundation of secularism was laid. But Congress laid the foundation for appeasement in the name of false secularism. He made laws for appeasement. I didn’t care about the Supreme Court. Modi said that the seed of appeasement sown by the Congress is a betrayal of the makers of the Constitution and I say this with great responsibility. Congress played this game in the country for decades. Make laws for appeasement. An example of this is the Waqf board. The people of Delhi will be surprised that after leaving power in 2014, many properties around Delhi were handed over to the Waqf Board. There was no place for something like Waqf Ward in Baba Saheb’s constitution. But Congress did this because politics could be done on vote banks. He tried to condemn the Constitution to death.
Modi said that the seed of appeasement sown by the Congress is a betrayal of the makers of the Constitution and I say this with great responsibility. Congress played this game in the country for decades. Make laws for appeasement.
2- Are there any preparations to introduce the Waqf Board Amendment Bill?
It is clear from this statement of Prime Minister Modi that the Waqf Board Amendment Bill may soon become a reality. From the way Prime Minister Modi has mentioned the Waqf Board in recent speeches, it seems that the government is serious about this bill. The government may quickly bring this bill and pass it before the end of 2024. Because next year there will be assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar. The government can present this to the public as an achievement. The winter session of Parliament also began today. All eyes will be on the Waqf Bill. Five new bills will be approved in this special session. All eyes are on the Waqf bill. The Waqf Bill is in the Joint Committee of Parliament. There has been a stir over him several times in the CPM meeting. So far, the committee has held 27 meetings on the Waqf bill. It is clear that the government has no intention of putting it on the back burner. The commission will present its report to Parliament this winter session. After that the government is expected to try to approve it.
3-Ambedkar, Constitution and Waqf Board
There was no discussion about the Waqf Board at the time of drafting the Indian Constitution. The Waqf Board was established in 1954 under the Waqf Act. The Waqf Act was passed by the Indian Parliament, whose role was to manage Muslim religious and social institutions. But gradually the Congress governments made this Act so strong through many amendments that it started being misused on a large scale. Nowadays, this law has become so strong that it can declare any land situated in any state of the country as Waqf Board land. Furthermore, this claim of the Waqf Board cannot be challenged in any local court. Thus, today the Waqf Board owns land equal to that of the Army and the Railways.
Before the formation of the Waqf Board, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar had resigned from his post as Law Minister of India. But looking at the views of Dr. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, it is easy to understand that he never supported the Waqf Board. During the Constituent Assembly debate, KM Munshi, Alladi Krishnawami and Ambedkar defended the UCC (Universe Civil Code). While Muslim leaders argued that it would promote animosity. It is also seen from the debates during the Constituent Assembly that Bhimrao Ambedkar was in favor of the Uniform Civil Code. In fact, the ideology of the Waqf Board goes against the ideology of the Uniform Civil Code, so it is obvious that BR Ambedkar never gives permission to form such boards.
Perhaps this is the reason why Prime Minister Modi also gave strict messages about this law in his speech among BJP workers. The government’s morale has increased due to the victory in the Maharashtra elections.
