The Waqf Amendment Bill, which seeks to curb the authority of waqf boards and allow greater government control over them, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who tabled the bill, accused the Opposition of misleading citizens about the provisions of the proposed law.

The Congress, on the other hand, accused the government of trying to defame minority groups and divide society through the proposed amendments.

A waqf is a property dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause under Islamic law. In India, waqfs are governed under the Waqf Act, 1995. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity that is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property. The Act was last amended in 2013.

The 2024 bill proposed to amend 44 sections of the 1995 Waqf Act. The amendments propose to allow waqf boards to be controlled by the government to a greater degree, allow non-Muslims to be members of the boards, restrict the donation of properties and change how waqf tribunals function.

After tabling the bill, Rijiju said that Opposition MPs had earlier claimed that waqf boards control the third largest pool of properties in the country after the railways and defence departments.

“I want to correct this perception,” he said. “The railways and defence properties belong to the country, but waqf properties are private in nature. It is unfair to compare them.”

Rijiju said that in 2004, waqf boards held 4.9 lakh properties and their income was Rs 163 crore. The minister added that after the 2013 amendment, income from these properties has increased by just Rs 3 crore to Rs 166 crore.

“We can’t accept such meagre income from such a huge bank of properties,” the minister said. “If the properties had been efficiently managed, they could have yielded an income of at least Rs 12,000 crore per year. It would have benefited lakhs and crores of Muslims.”

Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that the bill was not anti-Muslim, as maintained by the Opposition.

“Waqf is not a religious organisation, but is a sort of trust that is formed to work for Muslim interests,” he said. “It has the right to work in the interests of all sections of Muslim society – the rich, the poor, backward groups and extremely backward groups. But this is not happening.”

On Tuesday, Telugu Desam Party spokesperson Prem Kumar Jain also said that his party would support the bill, ANI reported.

“[Party chief] Chandrababu Naidu has already mentioned that we will work in interests of the Muslim community,” he said. “Tomorrow, the bill will be tabled, only then we will make any comments on it. I assure you that Chandrababu Naidu is in the favour of Muslims.”

Both the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party are part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. As the BJP does not have a majority in the Lok Sabha by itself, it may need the support of these parties to pass the Waqf Amendment Bill.

Centre wants to defame minorities: Congress

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi alleged that through the Waqf Amendment Bill, the Centre wanted to “dilute the Constitution, to defame the minority communities of India, to divide the Indian society and to disenfranchise the minority communities”.

Gogoi, the Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said that the Union government was portraying a false narrative that women do not get any role in waqf boards. “But all these provisions are already there in the law, whether it is the protection of widows or giving more support to women.”

The Congress MP added: “What message do you [government] want to send? The government wants to tarnish the image of the community that fought for India’s independence, the community from among whom there were martyrs alongside Mangal Pandey in 1857, and the community that supported Gandhiji’s Dandi march.”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the Centre wanted to introduce the Waqf Amendment Bill to protect its “vote bank” and to divide society. “Did the decisions taken by the government before this bring about a big change in the country and the state?” he asked.

Yadav added: “The Waqf Bill does not signify any hope. Rather, it is part of a well thought out strategy.”