After support, JD(U) ‘growing wary’ of Waqf Bill changes

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Days after supporting the Waqf Amendment Bill - 2024 in Parliament, key ruling NDA ally Janata Dal United is learnt to be growing wary of the proposed draft law that seeks to change the 1995 parent act governing Waqf properties in India.

Concerned over negative perceptions

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections next year, state’s ruling JD(U) is concerned about potential negative perceptions the amendment bill may spawn with the opposition RJD and Congress labelling the draft bill as anti-Muslim.

What the new Bill proposes

• Renaming Waqf Act, 1995, as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act
• Defining “Waqf” as Waqf (donation) by any person practicing Islam for at least 5 years and having ownership of such property
• Reconstituting Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards to have representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims
• Representation of Shia, Sunni, Bohra, Agakhani and other backward classes among Muslim communities
• Registration of Waqfs through a central portal
• DC as arbiter in cases of a dispute on whether the land is Waqf or public

17.7% of Bihar’s population Muslim

As per the Bihar Government’s 2022 caste-based survey, 17.7 per cent of the state’s population (23,149,925) is Muslim making Islam the second largest religion in Bihar after Hinduism.

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections next year, state’s ruling JD(U) is concerned about potential negative perceptions the amendment bill may spawn with the opposition RJD and Congress labelling the draft bill as anti-Muslim.

The Bihar opposition is further set to fuel this narrative. As reported by The Tribune, a majority of the non-NDA MPs raised serious objections to the proposed amendments in the maiden Thursday meeting of the joint parliamentary committee set up to review the draft law and asked the Union Minority Affairs Ministry to return with clarifications on each of the proposed 44 amendments to the parent Act in 15 days.

Earlier in August when the Bill came up for discussions in Lok Sabha before being referred to the joint parliamentary committee (JPC), JD(U) leader and union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh had defended it saying it was not anti-Muslim.

Singh had attacked the opposition for comparing state Waqf boards with temples saying there was a difference between a temple and an institution. “This Bill only seeks to make state Waqf boards transparent. There is no communal divide. They (the opposition) are spreading rumours,” said Singh.

Since then, JD(U)’s anxieties around the Bill are known to have grown, with State Minority Affairs Minister Zama Khan and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s confidant Vijay Kumar Choudhry learnt to be concerned about some provisions.

Zama Khan is also said to have met Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju along with JD(U)’s senior leader Sanjay Jha to discuss the issue.

In the first JPC meeting held on Thursday, BJP allies maintained silence, bsut the JD(U) is learnt to have privately raised its concerns with the government.

The cause of rethink is a substantial Muslim population in Bihar and its potential electoral impact in the 2025 state elections.

As per the Bihar Government’s 2022 caste-based survey, 17.7 per cent of the state’s population (23,149,925) is Muslim making Islam the second largest religion in Bihar after Hinduism.

Kishanganj is the only Muslim majority district in Bihar with over 68% of the population identifying as Muslim.