Parliament panel on Waqf meets, Oppn MPs oppose proposed amendments

At the first meeting of the joint committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Thursday, opposition MPs flagged their concerns over several provisions, including the proposal to appoint non-Muslims to Waqf boards, the provision to empower district collectors in deciding on the ownership of disputed property, and the deletion of Urdu words from the law.

According to sources, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members of the committee advocated wider consultations on the amendments and stressed the need to address the Muslim community’s concerns about the Bill. The two parties are constituents of the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.

In a post on X, YSR Congress Party’s V Vijayasai Reddy, a member of the committee, said he opposed the Bill at the meeting. He asked people to email him their concerns about the Bill, which he said he would put forth before the committee in his “dissenting note”. In a post, Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi said, “I hope the committee will consider all viewpoints” on the Bill and “ensure that constitutional values and personal freedom are not encroached upon.”

At the meeting, the Union minority affairs ministry made a presentation on the proposed law. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of the committee appreciated the proposed amendments, particularly the one that seeks to give representation to Muslim women in Waqf boards.

Later, Committee Chairperson Jagdambika Pal described the meeting, which went on for over six hours with a lunch break, as "fruitful". Another member said it was one of the longest meetings held by a parliamentary panel in recent times. The next meeting will be held on August 30, and the panel is likely to hear the views of various state Waqf bodies.

The members who attended the meeting included the BJP’s Sanjay Jaiswal, Aparajita Sarangi, Tejasvi Surya, Dilip Saikia, and Gulam Ali; Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi and Naseer Hussain; TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee; YSR Congress’s V Vijayasai Reddy; AAP’s Sanjay Singh; AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi; A Raja of the DMK; LJP’s Arun Bharti, and TDP’s Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu. Owaisi, according to sources, cautioned that the proposed law will create social instability if enacted. Pal later said the committee will discuss all the 44 amendments and bring a good and comprehensive Bill by the next session.

In another development, All India Muslim Personal Law Board president Khalid Saifullah Rahmani on Thursday claimed at a press conference that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal (United)'s Nitish Kumar, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, have assured the Muslim bodies that their parties would oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.