Rajya Sabha passed Waqf Amendment, will go to President now

way2barak, April 4: The Waqf bill, after a smooth passage through Lok Sabha, breezed through the Rajya Sabha 24 hours later, after yet another marathon debate. On its way, it exposed a chink in the armour of the parties opposing the bill. The voting was 128 votes in favour of the bill and 95 against.

Just a few hours before the voting, Naveen Patkaik’s Biju Janata Dal opened the gates for a “conscience vote’ telling its seven upper house MPs that they would not be bound by a whip and could vote for whichever side they wanted.

The party’s senior leader Sasmit Patra, in a post on X, said they took that view after taking into consideration the sentiments of “different sections of the Minority communities regarding the Waqf (Amendment) Bill”.

The arguments, though, were on expected lines. Minorities affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, opening the debate, dismissed allegations that the bill would harm Muslim interests and asserted that non-Muslims cannot interfere in the Waqf Board’s affairs as its management, creation, and beneficiaries would remain exclusively Muslims.

Emphasizing his argument that the bill is not about religion but property and its management and aims to root out corruption, he said proof of ownership will now be required before a property is declared Waqf. This, he added, will eliminate the previous provision where any claim by the Waqf Board automatically led to its designation as Waqf property.

Mr Rijiju and Home minister Amit Shah had yesterday listed properties that were labelled Wakf, among them properties in Delhi’s Lutyens zone, a 400-year-old temple in Tamil Nadu, land for a five-star establishment and even the old parliament building.

Syed Naseer Hussain of Congress responded to Mr Rijiju, “They are creating confusion about 123 properties. They are either masjids, burial grounds or dargahs”.

“I want to submit a list of those,” he said. “When the British occupied Lutyens’ Delhi, these properties were handed over to the Waqf by them after construction of the area. These properties are with the Waqf. These were the ones that are being referred to by them in relation to 2013,” he added.

There was also an acrimonious exchange between Mr Hussain and Amit Shah, when the former questioned the BJP argument that at under the existing Waqf Act, people can’t move court if they are aggrieved with the decision of the Tribunal. “This is false. How are there so many pending cases in the High Court and Supreme Court if none could move court?” he said.

Lok Sabha had passed the bill with a 288-232 vote in the early hours of Thursday after a debate lasting over 12 hours.

The proposed legislation — which will be sent for President’s sign-off next — aims to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf properties.