Land and Property Under Possession of Waqf Board

The reason why the opposition parties of the country appear to be confused on the issue of Muslim Waqf Board is that they are unaware of the ground reality of India. It is not that the common Indian is not affected by the kind of network of Waqf properties spread in the country. Therefore, the bill that the Modi government has brought in this regard is generally welcomed by the people of the country. There is a deep resentment among the citizens in view of the activities of the Muslim Wakf Boards in various States in this regard. Taking cognizance of this anger, the BJP has introduced the Waqf Amendment Bill. Of course, the history of the Waqf Board dates back to 1913 during the British rule and after that it was amended from time to time. The biggest of these amendments was made in 1995 during the Narasimha Rao government of the then Congress. This was the period when the movement over Ram Janmabhoomi in the country had come to an end.

The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished in December 1992. After this, the Narasimha Rao government brought the Waqf Amendment Bill to keep Muslims happy. One of the major changes made in the Act was that the decision of the Waqf Board regarding any land or property was final, which would have been through a tribunal. The decision of the tribunal could not be challenged in the civil courts and only a review petition could be filed in the court. After this, it was amended in 2013 in the Manmohan Singh government. This gave the Waqf Boards the right to stake claim on the land or property which was considered to be owned by them. Along with this, the land which is already being used by a person for religious work was also made mandatory to be considered as Waqf land. Such a rule also came under the purview of historical sites which were running under archaeological protection. Therefore, the amendment bill tabled by Minority Affairs Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju in Parliament removes all the places of historical and archaeological importance from the clutches of Waqf.

There are historical buildings all over the country which are maintained by the Department of Archaeology. But by reading Namaz at such places, the Waqf Board used to try to see them through a religious prism. Shri Rijiju has excluded all such sites from the Wakf property. At the same time, it is also a fact that since 1995, there has been a huge increase in the properties of Waqf. The Sachar Committee, which examined the socio-economic status of Muslims in 2006, had said that till then the annual income from the total 4.90 lakh Waqf properties was Rs 163 crore. The Sachar Committee said that if these assets are properly utilised, the income should be at least ten thousand crore rupees, but now these assets have increased to close to nine lakhs, but the income from these properties has come down further. The Sachar Committee had said that by increasing the income from Waqf properties, it could be used to help poor Muslims financially because the committee had also found that the condition of Muslims in India was worse than that of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Therefore, the thing to understand is that the issue of Waqf is not an issue of Hindu-Muslims, but it is a humanitarian issue because 90 percent of the Muslims of the country are Pasmanda Muslims who somehow manage to make ends meet. Therefore, Shri Rijiju has made a provision in the Wakf Bill that the National Waqf Council to be constituted at the Central level will have representatives of all the main sects of Muslims and along with women, there will also be representatives of Pasmanda Muslims and people of other religions other than Muslims will also be represented. It is being said that this will interfere in the internal religious issues of the Muslims, which is not entirely true because there is a mutallavi or manager to look after the waqf lands. He must be a Muslim. There is no evil in this because it is not a question of government interference in religious matters but a question of taking care of real estate. Various High Courts in the country have so far given judgments in this regard, Waqf Boards have been considered as a statutory body and not a religious one.

The question is, when we beat our drums and cry that India is a secular country, why do we start getting dry in our throats when we hear any issue of Muslims? When Mr. Rijiju moved the bill in Parliament saying that the Waqf Boards of India have the highest donated land in the world, why should it not be used in the interest of poor Muslims. Why have we turned the Wakf Boards into a land-grabbing mafia? Whereas the common Muslim donates his land and property for public welfare. The land of waqf is the land of Allah, so it should also be used for the service of His servants. In India, the assessment of the property is done along with the valid papers, so it is necessary to have the documents of the property that has been declared. While some people do not hesitate to call government land as Waqf land. This new bill will also expose all such claims.