Is new Waqf law good for commonfolk Muslims?
Leaders of Muslim outfits who gathered at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on Tuesday, at the call of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, vowed to continue their agitation until the recently enacted Waqf law is withdrawn. AIMPLB has planned a series of countrywide agitations on this issue. Meanwhile, Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, an Islamic scholar in his own right, has questioned the agitation. He raised questions on why Waqf Boards during the last seven decades did not build schools and hospitals on Waqf properties and instead lent them on lease to commercial shops, malls and hotels. Khan said, the Holy Quran does say that every pious Muslim should help the poor and the needy, but there is no mention of the word ‘Waqf’ in the Holy Quran. He said, Maulanas should learn from Christian missionaries who used charities for building good hospitals and schools. Arif Mohammad Khan is right. Shopping complexes, malls, residential societies, five star hotels have been built on prime location Waqf properties in most of the cities of India. In Patna’s Dak Bungalow area, nearly 30 Waqf properties worth several thousand crores of rupees have either been leased out for a pittance or have been sold to builders who made shopping complexes. In Karnataka, the Waqf Board has rented out 14,855 buildings for commercial use. Out of these 1,672 buildings are in Bengaluru but they earn hardly Rs 77 crore annually as rent. On one parcel of Waqf land, a five-star hotel came up in Bengaluru. Former Karnataka Minorities Commission chief Anwar Manippadi in his report has said that nearly 29,000 acres of Waqf land were leased out by muthawallis (caretakers) for a pittance. Muslims should realize what Arif Mohammad Khan has pointed out. The word ‘Waqf’ is not there in the Holy Quran, but Maulanas are linking the Waqf issue with religion. Arif Mohammad Khan has said, the Waqf Boards did not build hospitals and schools on Waqf properties and instead leased them at throwaway rates. The ultimate sufferers are the poor Muslims who need help. Had the Waqf Boards done their work efficiently, there would have been no reason to amend the old Waqf Act. This point must be kept in mind in the ongoing debate on this controversial issue.
Murshidabad, Mamata, Muslims and rehabilitation
Days after Muslim mobs ran riot and indulged in arson and stoning targeting Hindu houses in Murshidabad, nearly three hundred Hindu families, who had fled to Malda, have returned now only to find their homes completely reduced to ashes. Hindus in Murshidabad are still living in fear. While Mamata Banerjee’s government forced Hindus to return, Hindus alleged that no arrangements have been made for their food and drinking water. The authorities have only erected tents for them to stay under the open sky. Old and infirm people, children and women are living in those tents. The homeless Hindus have alleged that Mamata’s government is busy in image building to tell the world that the refugees have returned, but the ground realities are stark. Meanwhile, a video has surfaced showing a Muslim mob dragging Hargobinda Das and his son Chandan Das from their home in Murshidabad on April 12, and murdering them brutally in broad daylight. The relatives of this family in Jaffrabad alleged that they rang up police frantically, but police did not turn up. Since there are self-regulation rules in media about telecasting gruesome videos, I was unable to show the full video in my show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Monday night. The images are blood curdling. The video also shows how poor Hindus were forced to flee their homes out of fear and how they were pratically forced by authorities to return. The visuals can make anybody weep. I would like to appeal to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take care of these poor, homeless families immediately and help them in rebuilding their homes, and provide them food and security. Mamata Banerjee, as Chief Minister, belongs to the people of West Bengal and not to a particular community or a section of the people.
Is Rahul maligning India’s image on foreign soil?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has raised questions about the credibility of Election Commission during his USA visit. He said, the Election Commission “is compromised”. He has alleged, “More people voted in Maharashtra than the total number of people in Maharashtra, and this is a fact… the Election Commission gave us a figure in the evening around 5:30 p.m., and in two hours around 7:30 p.m., 65 lakh voters had voted, which is physically impossible…There is something very wrong with the system.” He alleged that when Congress demanded video footage of voting at the polling stations, the EC instead of sharing footage, changed the rules about sharing of footage. Rahul Gandhi has repeated in the US what he has been alleging during the last five months in India. BJP objected to this saying, making “slanderous remarks” against a Constitutional body on foreign soil does not behove the Leader of Opposition. Rahul Gandhi is blaming his alliance’s defeat in Maharashtra on “irregularities” committed by Election Commission. But his arguments are themselves irregular and erratic. On January 18, Rahul Gandhi had said, there was a difference of nearly 1 crore voters between the 2025 Lok Sabha poll figure and subsequent assembly poll figure. It means, there was an increase in number of voters by nearly one crore. On February 3, he said in Parliament that the number of new voters in Maharashtra was 70 lakh. The Election Commission figure says that it was only 40 lakhs. When the Congress party filed its complaint with Election Commission, it said, the number of voters increased by 47 lakh. The Election Commission then provided a detailed reply running into 66 pages. Time and space constraints does not permit me to share EC’s reply here, but the main point was: EC rejected Congress allegations as baseless. Instead, the EC pointed out that there was a rise of more than 28 lakh voters in Maharashtra within 2 months during the 2019 elections. When Maha Vikas Aghadi, that includes Congress, formed its government in Maharashtra in 2019, nobody raised any question about this rise in number of voters. The picture is clear. Rahul Gandhi is not only misleading his own party, but also maligning Indiais image.
Waqf Act : All eyes on Supreme Court
With the Supreme Court seeking clarification on some provisions of Waqf Act, all eyes are now on what interim order the apex court is going to pass. On Wednesday, the Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the Centre whether it would enact a law allowing non-Hindus and Muslims to be members of Hindu religious endowment boards or institutions? The apex court also observed, “you can’t rewrite the past. Properties which are.. hundrds of years old can’t be reopened.” Muslim organizations seem to be happy with the apex court raising questions and are hopeful of a stay. Those who had challenged the new Waqf Act expected the apex court to stay the operation of the Act, but they had to satisfy only with the fact that the court raised questions on three key provisions. One, appointment of non-Muslims in Waqf Council and boards, two, role and powers of district collector in the new law, and three, on powers of the government to denotify Waqf properties. The arguments are in the initial stage now. There are nearly 100 petitions. Top advocates like Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Rajiv Shakdher, Sanjay Hegde, Huzaifa Ahmadi and Rajiv Dhawan are arguing their cases. There are more than 40,000 disputes pending on Waqf properties. There are cases where hundreds of years old temples were declared Waqf proprties. The hearing may stretch for a longer duration. One problem is that the present Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna will be retiring on May 13. On Wednesday, he forwarded the name of Justice B R Gavai as his successor. The question is, if the hearings are not complete by May 13, will a new bench hear the entire case afresh? One positive outcome on Wednesday was, the bench described the situation as “very disturbing”. The Chief Justice said, once the matter is before this court for adjudication, things should not be done to “vitiate the atmosphere”.
Bengal violence : Political advantage for both camps?
Even as hearing was gone on in the Supreme Court on Waqf Act, there were reports of fresh violence in Murshidabad, West Bengal, with some shops set on fire and incidents of stoning. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned rioters saying they would not be spared. At the same time, Banerjee blamed the BJP for inciting violence in Bengal. She was addressing a conference of imams and muezzins in Kolkata. Banerjee asked the Muslim clerics to go to Delhi to raise their voice and stop anti-socials from indulging in violence. I have heard several statements of Trinamool Congress leaders on Bengal violence. Some of them said, the violence was instigated by BJP, while some said, people from Bangladesh came, indulged in violence and fled. But these leaders did not say why Bengal police did not arrest these rioters. Some Trinamool leaders alleged that the rioters were speaking in Hindi and they were brought by BJP in trucks from Bihar. Somebody should ask these leaders what Bengal police was doing when these rioters were being brought in trucks from Bihar. BJP leaders are no less cynical. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is raising the bogey of Yogi Adityanath. Both sides are indulging in politics, but neither of them have any interest in dousing the fire and restoring peace. This is because both sides at looking at political advantage if communal fires surge.
Herald case : One fact that Congress overlooks
Congress workers staged protests across India on Wednesday after Enforcement Directorate filed chargesheet against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. Congress has decided to fight this issue politically. Protests were held in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur, Patna, Ranchi, Shimla and Bhopal. Congress is alleging that Modi government is indulging in “vendetta politics”. Some of their leaders are claiming that BJP is worried after Congress has decided to strengthen its organisation. Some allege that all this is being done with an eye on Bihar assembly elections later this year and this was the reason why National Herald case was reopened. One interesting point is that the case of shareholdings transfer of National Herald ownership was filed when the UPA government was in power and Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. The present chargesheet has been filed after several years of investigation. Congress leaders are deliberately ignoring this vital fact.
Waqf issue : Who is trying to polarize Muslims?
In a move aimed at polarization of Muslim votes ahead of Bihar assembly elections, opposition parties including Congress, RJD, AIMIM, Left and Prashant Kishor’s newly formed Jan Suraaj Party attended a rally organized by All India Muslim Personal Law Board to oppose the Waqf Amendment Bill. A call was given to all Muslims to “boycott” those political parties like JD(U), LJP, TDP, if they support the Bill in Parliament during voting. Muslims were asked not to accept “Saugaat-e-Modi” Eid gift hampers being distributed by BJP. At an iftar party hosted by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, state minister Mohammed Zama Khan alleged that some Islamic clerics are trying to mislead Muslims on the Waqf issue. At the rally, most of the clerics warned that Muslims will “lose control over graves, mosques and madarsas” if the Waqf Bill was passed. The organizers announced that the next protest rally will be held in Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh on March 29. The question is: why was this anti-Waqf Bill rally held in Patna? Those who participated did not hide their political motives. They clearly said that Islamic clerics opposing this law had gone there to “intimidate” Nitish Kumar and his allies Jitanram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan. They had gone to Patna to convey the threatening message that if these leaders did not oppose the Bill and snap ties with BJP, Muslims will not vote for them. More than 18 per cent of voters in Bihar are Muslims. There are 47 out of a total of 243 assembly seats where Muslim vote is the deciding factor. For Nitish Kumar, the combination of Maha Dalits and Muslims had been working successfully in Bihar over the years. Muslims had been supporting Nitish Kumar’s party despite his alliance with BJP. This is the reason why Nitish Kumar, Jitanram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan paid little attention to this threat. On the other hand, BJP leaders are trying to convince Muslims that the Waqf matter is an issue related to only a handful of rich Muslims, and poor Muslims have nothing to do with Waqf properties. The fire is raging from both sides and till the time elections are over in Bihar, this issue may continue to reverberate.
Punjab’s census on drug addiction : A welcome step
Punjab will hold its first-ever census on drug addiction. The state government will collect data on drug addiction, de-addiction centres and socio-economic status of those families affected. Rs 150 crore has been earmarked in the state budget presented in the Assembly. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, while presenting the budget, said, this will help the government to prepare an effective strategy to root out drug addiction. The state government will recruit 5,000 home guards to stop smuggling of drugs from Pakistan. Any action against drug mafia in Punjab is a welcome step. This should have been done long back. Last week, Home Minister Amit Shah made some disclosures about drug seizures. These are astonishing. He gave a comparison of drug seizures during UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, and during NDA rule from 2014 till 2025. He said, during Congress’ 10-year rule 25 lakh kilograms of drugs worth Rs 40,000 crore were seized, while in the last ten years, more than a crore kilograms of drugs worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore have been seized. Amit Shah said, this was possible because the investigation procedure has now changed during BJP rule. During Congress rule, Shah said, 3.36 lakh kg drugs were burnt, while during BJP rule, 31 lakh kg drugs were burnt. The Home Minister said, during Congress rule, 1.73 lakh cases were filed against drug peddlers, while in the last 10 years, 6.56 lakh cases were filed. It is not a matter of statistics. In the new policy being implemented by Amit Shah, drugs buyer is now considered a victim, while drugs peddler is considered a culprit. Earlier, people from whom drugs were seized, used to be arrested, but presently, those selling or supplying drugs are arrested. I think, this is a welcome change which should be applauded.
Why police delayed action in Judge’s cash case ?
On instructions from the three-judge inhouse inquiry panel appointed by Supreme Court, a team of Delhi Police on Wednesday sealed the storeroom in Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence, 12 days after half-burnt currency notes were found after a fire incident. The police team made a video of the storeroom before sealing it. When Delhi Police entered the judge’s residence and sealed the storeroom, one question that everyone asked was why police delayed in sealing the room. One must understand the compulsions of police in such matters. The hands of police are tied when matters relate to taking action against any judge. This curb was imposed by Justice Venkatachaliah in 1994, when it was clearly instructed that police can neither file an FIR against any judge, nor file a case. If the judge belongs to High Court, then police must take prior permission from the HC Chief Justice, and if the judge belonged to Supreme Court, permission must be sought from the Chief Justice of India. There are other curbs too in matters relating to judges. As per rules, police cannot arrest a judge, nor can it record a judge’s statement, or prepare a ‘panchnama’ (recovery list) or carry out a medical test, without the presence of his legal adviser, and that too, unless permission is given. To put it briefly, a police officer will have to think ten times before taking any action against a judge. The police officer has to take permission from the judiciary. When half-burnt currency notes were found from the judge’s residence on March 14, only a video of some burnt notes were shown. Police could not do anything else at the spot. Neither could it take any statement, nor could it prepare a ‘panchnama’. The action of sealing of store room was done by police only after it got instructions from the SC-appointed three-judge inquiry panel. This was done only to help the panel in its probe. How can police be blamed for this delay?