Dispel the Canards Being Spread About Waqf Reforms

After the passage of the Waqf Amendment Bill in Parliament, it is time for full-on politics by Opposition parties that had prepared the ground for it by painting the bill as anti-Muslim and communal.

- JOYEEETA BASU

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, to be held sometime later this year, a competition of sorts has broken out among parties to prove to their Muslim voters that they are their biggest saviours. Since this cannot be done without painting the ruling coalition as the villain of the piece, Muslims are being told that the Amendment Bill has been designed to snatch away their property and make them second-class citizens of the country. When the truth is that the Bill is actually about the management and governance of Waqf property, by making the functioning of the Waqf boards more efficient and transparent, apart from making the boards more representative.

While Waqf is assets donated for charitable purposes, with the owner being God once the property is transferred as Waqf, the management of that property by the Waqf boards has come in for severe criticism even by Muslims for being riddled with corruption. Proceeds from such property are to be used for the welfare of the Muslim community and Waqf property cannot be sold. This has not stopped Waqf boards from allowing such land for different purposes in exchange for a hefty sum of money, which, more often than not, has not been used for the betterment of the Muslim community.