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Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday termed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as a direct attack on the Constitution and vowed to oppose its implementation.
He demanded that NDA allies TDP and JDU clarify their stand on the issue. He said the Wakf (Amendment) Bill is a direct attack on the Constitution and is against its very foundation. It has been imposed through the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Threat to oppose the bill
He said that if the government implements it, we will oppose it democratically. Jairam said that every opposition party is opposing it. Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, AAP, every party is opposing this bill?
He said that but the question is what do parties like JDU and TDP do? The parties which call themselves secular, which say that they believe in secularism, what is their stand on this?
Rijiju made a different claim
- On the other hand, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju claimed that not only the NDA is united in favor of the bill, but many MPs of the opposition INDIAA have also supported it and demanded that the bill be introduced soon. Opposition MPs are not speaking openly only because of the fear of their leaders.
- While talking to journalists on Monday, the Minister of Minority Affairs alleged that some political parties and organizations are trying to mislead the public regarding the Waqf Amendment Bill. He claimed that provisions have been made in the amended bill for the welfare of poor and backward Muslims and women. Some people are spreading false propaganda that mosques, graveyards and land-property of Muslims will be taken away, whereas this law was there before independence and even after it. If changes were made continuously in it, then how did it become unconstitutional now?
The Catholic Bishops Conference supported the bill.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India has also written a letter supporting the bill. It has been mentioned in the letter that some provisions in the existing Central Waqf Act are against the Constitution and the secular democratic values of the country.
It was said that the Wakf Board in Kerala has used these provisions to declare ancestral residential properties of more than 600 families in Munambam area as Wakf land. Over the last three years, this issue has turned into a complex legal dispute. Only legal amendments can provide a permanent solution to this. The Bishops Conference has appealed to the political parties to adopt an impartial and constructive approach to this issue.
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