JOINT PARL PANEL MEET: NDA remains divided on Waqf Bill, clerics also voice concern

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 30

Objections to the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, again appeared within the BJP-led NDA government, as its own lawmakers and allies flagged concerns regarding the proposed legislation.

Fissures were visible during the Parliamentary joint panel’s meeting on the Bill on Friday, in which a lawmaker from the Centre’s ally LJP (Ramvilas) indicated that stakeholders having objection to the Bill should be called and their views sought.

A BJP lawmaker also from Odisha questioned the provision of the Bill which says that Waqf now requires a person to have practiced Islam for at least five years and have ownership of the property being dedicated. The BJP MP is learnt to have asked the panel how a person would prove if he had been following the Muslim faith for more than five years. Mumbai-based All-India Sunni Jamiyatul Ulama, whose representatives were also called during the Friday meeting, raised a slew of objections to it, chief among them being against the provision of appointing a CEO and non-Muslim members to Waqf boards.

It said appointing non-Muslims as members was not in line with the spirit and intent of the Waqf Act and raised serious Constitutional concerns. LJP (Ramvilas) MP Arun Bharti said the stakeholders who have objections to the Bill should be summoned by the panel to seek their views.

The government is said to have received indications from its allies that they are not exactly satisfied with the Bill and in all likelihood, it could get delayed, considering the kind of objections it has been receiving from Opposition as well as from the ruling dispensation’s lawmakers, allies and Muslim clerics.