The Parliament of India adopts a bill on Muslim land after ferocious debates

After hours of heated debate, the Parliament of India adopted a controversial bill that seeks to change the way in which the properties of a billions of dollars given by Muslims over the centuries are governed.

The upper room adopted the WAQF bill (amendment), 2024 early Friday, one day after the lower chamber cleaned it in the middle of opposition criticism.

Muslim leaders and opposition parties claim that the bill is “unconstitutional” and undermines the rights of the Muslim minority of India.

But the government claims that the bill aims to make the management of the WAQF (Muslim properties) more transparent.

The bill will now be sent to the President of India for his assent before he became a law. This approval should happen soon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the adoption of the bill a “moment in the watershed”.

In an article on X, he said that the WAQF system (the system to govern WAQF or Muslim properties) was “synonymous with a lack of transparency and responsibility” for decades.

“The legislation adopted by Parliament will stimulate transparency and also protect people’s rights,” he wrote.

However, the opposition was noisy in their condemnation of the bill and alleged that it is another ploy by the party of Bharatiya Janata (BJP) to the power to dilute the rights of minorities.

The chief of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge noted that, while 288 members had voted in favor of the bill in the lower chamber, an important 232 opposed it.

“From this, we can guess that despite the opposition of various parties, this bill has been brought arbitrarily,” he wrote on X.

The Legal Livelaw website reported on Friday that the legislator asiduddin Owaisi, president of the Muslimimeen All India Majlis-E-Itetehadul party and fierce critic of the bill, had challenged him before the Supreme Court.

In Islamic tradition, a WAQF is a charity or religious gift made by Muslims for the benefit of the community. These properties cannot be sold or used for other purposes.

They are important for the 200 million Muslims in India because they are used for mosques, madrassas, cemeteries and orphanages.

The properties are governed by the 1995 WAQF law, which has mandated the training of advice at the level of the state to manage them.

These boards of directors include candidates of the State government, Muslim legislators, members of the Council of the State Bar, Islamic scholars and managers of WAQF properties.

Last August, the government of the BJP presented a bill to modify the WAQF law.

The government said the changes proposed by the bill would modernize the WAQF administration and reduce legal gaps. But Muslim leaders and opposition parties allegedly alleged that the amendments would give the government more control over these properties.

The bill was sent to a panel for a meticulous examination. In February, the panel authorized the bill with a few amendments.

On the one hand, the new bill offers modifications to the way in which a WAQF property is determined.

Historically, many properties that have been given through oral declarations or community customs have been legitimized as WAQF properties because of their continuous use of the Muslim community.

Under the new bill, WAQF councils must provide valid documents to claim property as WAQF. In the event of disputes – in particular on the land considered as belonging to the government – the final decision will rest with the government.

Second, the bill proposes to authorize non-Muslims to appoint on Waqf councils and courts.

The bill also authorizes judicial intervention in disputes – replacing the previous system where the decisions of the WAQF courts were considered definitively.

The bill also offers a centralized registration system, demanding that all WAQF properties be registered within six months of the entry into force of the law.

The requests for new registration of the WAQF properties must also be subject to WAQF cards via this system.

The bill also has provisions that give the government a greater role in surveying WAQF properties.