Hyderabad

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi strongly criticised the Waqf Amendment Bill, passed by the NDA government, by calling it “unconstitutional” and announced a protest public meeting under the banner of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on April 19.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, he said that leaders and members of the AIMPLB, as well as organisations such as Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, would participate in the protest, adding that efforts were also being made to include members of the Waqf Committee.

Calling on critics to read his dissent note on the Bill, Mr. Owaisi said it would help dispel “suspicions and misunderstandings” regarding waqf. “They say if you keep a handkerchief on a piece of land, it will become waqf. How is this possible?” he asked, citing how he and former MPs such as Barq and Asarul Haq Qasmi used to offer namaz in a corner of Parliament due to lack of time. “Does it become mine because of that?” he said.

Mr. Owaisi said the Waqf Amendment Bill violated several fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. “This Bill goes against Articles 14, 15, 25, 26, and 29. It was not brought to protect waqf properties, remove encroachments, or to enhance waqf revenues. It is not in the interest of Muslims.”

He accused BJP and its allies, including Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan, Jayant Chaudhary, Jitan Ram Manjhi, and H.D. Kumaraswamy, of supporting a “black law” that “denies Muslims’ rights that are accorded to other religious communities.”

“In endowment boards of Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs, only members of those faiths can serve. They can receive properties from people of other faiths, and their endowments are protected. But by this amendment, Muslims have been deprived of the same,” he said.

Mr. Owaisi further alleged that the Bill undermined waqf protections by Section 3D. “Whatever masjid, dargah, khanqah, imambada or ashoorkhana is with the ASI, after this Bill, they will no longer be registered as waqf properties. There are 180 such properties under ASI control, and we will lose them,” he warned. “The Sambhal Masjid, for example, will no longer be waqf property.”

Challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “Will the Sambhal Masjid be considered waqf property? What about the Gyanvapi Masjid and Mathura Masjid?’

He also questioned the inclusion of Section 2. “This was justified by Mr. Amit Shah in Parliament as beneficial to Bohra Muslims. But there is no mention of Bohras in the provision. It has instead helped the richest man in the country, who purchased a Khoja orphanage and built a grand mansion there,” he said.