Srinagar, India (AP) – The Parliament of India adopted on Thursday a controversial bill moved by the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to modify the laws governing the allocations of Muslim land.
The bill would add non-Muslims to the advice that managed Waqf land allocations And give the government a more important role in the validation of their land funds. The government claims that changes will help fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity, but criticisms fear to undermine more the rights of the Muslim minority of the country and can be used to confiscate historical mosques and other goods.
The debate in the lower chamber was heated while the opposition led by the congress firmly opposed the proposal, the unconstitutional and discriminatory calling against Muslims. Modi Bharatiya Janata’s power party has a majority in the lower chamber, but its allies have helped adopt the bill.
The debate that started Wednesday ended with 288 members voted for the bill while 232 were against that early Thursday. The bill must now release the upper room before it is sent to President Droupadi Murmu for his assent to become law.
The Minister of Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, presented the bill to modify a 1995 law which establishes rules for foundations and has created state councils to administer them.
Many Muslim groups and opposition parties say that the proposal is discriminatory, politically motivated and an attempted party in power to weaken the rights of minorities.
A Muslim man offers prayers to Mahim Dargah, a Muslim sanctuary in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 2, 2025. (Photo / Rafiq Maqbool)
The bill was presented for the first time in Parliament last year, and opposition leaders said that some of their subsequent proposals on this subject had been ignored. The government said the opposition parties used rumors to discredit them and block transparency in the management of endowments.
What is a waqf?
Waqfs are a traditional type of Islamic charitable foundation in which a donor constantly puts goods – often but not always real estate – for religious or charitable purposes.
Waqfs in India controls 872,000 properties which cover 405,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land, valued at $ 14.22 billion. Some of these endowments date back centuries, and many are used for mosques, seminars, cemeteries and orphanages.
The law would change that executes the waqfs
In India, the WAQF property is managed by semi-official boards of directors, one for each state and a union territory managed by the federal government. The law demanded that non-Muslims be appointed to the advice.
Currently, WAQF’s advice has Muslims, such as similar organizations that help administer other religious charities.
During the parliamentary debate, the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, said that the non-Muslims would not be included in the WAQF boards of directors and helps manage the procrastination. He added that they were not there to interfere in religious affairs.
“Members (non-Muslims) will monitor whether the administration is being executed or not, and whether donations are used for what they were intended or not,” he said.
One of the most controversial changes is the property rules, which could have an impact on historical mosques, sanctuaries and cemeteries, because many properties of this type lack formal documentation as they were given without legal files, and even centuries ago.
Title Questions
Other changes may have an impact on mosques on the land held in severe WAQF.
Radical Hindu groups have claimed several mosques across IndiaArguing that they are built on the ruins of important Hindu temples. Many of these cases are underway in court.
The law would oblige WAQF’s advice to request the approval of a district level agent to confirm complaints from WAQFS to property.
Muslims leave after having prayed to Mahim Dargah, a Muslim sanctuary in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 2, 2025. (AP photo / Rafiq Maqbool)
Critics say that it would undermine the board of directors and could lead Muslims stripped of their land. We do not know how frequency the advice would be invited to confirm such claims to land.
“The WAQF (Amendment) bill is a weapon aimed at marginalizing Muslims and usurping their personal laws and their property rights,” said Rahul Gandhi, the main leader in the social media platform X.
Fears among Muslims
While many Muslims agree that the WAQF suffers from corruption, encroachments and mismanagement, they also fear that the new law will give the Hindu nationalist government of India much more important control over Muslim properties, in particular at a time when attacks against minority communities have become more aggressive under Modi, with Muslims often targeted food And clothing styles has interreligious weddings.
A Muslim woman from Cashmere prays inside Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani sanctuary, commonly called Dastageer Sahib, in Srinagar, Indian controlled cashmere, Wednesday April 2, 2025. (AP photo / Mukhtar Khan)
Last month, the American Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its annual report that the conditions of religious freedom in India continued to deteriorate while Modi and his party “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during the electoral campaign last year.
Modi’s government says India is managed on the democratic principles of equality and no discrimination exists in the country.
Muslims, who represent 14% of the 1.4 billion people in India, are the largest minority group of the Hindu major nation, but they are also the poorest, revealed a government survey of 2013.
