Lok Sabha passes Waqf Bill as Opposition leads from front during debate

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Arguing that the BJP’s motive to take backdoor control of Islamic institutions, such as the Waqf, Venugopal plunged into the debate saying that the ruling party was aiming to “defame, divide and disenfranchise the minorities.”

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The Congress MP from Allapuzha asked why the Waqf Bill insisted on at least two non-Muslim members being part of the board when sacred Hindu shrines in Jammu like the Vaishno Devi trust and the Devaswom Board in Kerala (which manages all the temples in the state) did not have any non-Hindus on their boards.

“This Bill is directly against the Constitution,” Venugopal said, adding that the “rights of minorities must be safeguarded” at all costs. The Congress MP also sought to expand the argument beyond the Waqf board by saying that 753 churches had been attacked in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Manipur and that the BJP was against the equal treatment of minorities.

“Today you are against Muslims, tomorrow it will be the Christians, day after Sikhs,” Venugopal said, adding, “This Bill attacks the freedom of religion in this country.”

During the discussion, Akhilesh Yadav said the Bill would send a wrong message to the world and hit India's secular image.

"The Waqf Bill is a new form of the BJP’s communal politics. The party's goal is polarisation... it will send a wrong message to the world and hurt India's secular image," Yadav said in the Lok Sabha.

He said the Bill had been introduced to manage the BJP's diminishing vote bank and would prove to be a "waterloo" for the saffron party as some members might be claiming to support the Bill but actually they were not happy about it.

Yadav alleged that whenever the BJP government brought any Bill, it tried to "hide its failure". "BJP people are talking about the land of Waqf so that they can hide the number of deaths in the recent Kumbh stampede," he said.

Participating in the debate, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant, who was the member of the Joint Parliament Committee (JPC), said clause-by-clause discussions were not held in the committee regarding the Bill.

"I am here to present my view on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. I, too, was a member of the JPC. Unfortunately, till the end, clause-by-clause discussions were not held in the JPC. Non-stakeholders were also called to the JPC, have always felt that there is a great difference between your words and actions. You do not want to do justice to anyone with this Bill. Do not think that what you are doing is right. I think you can only see Bihar elections now," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the Bill as "attack" on the Constitution by the RSS and the BJP. He said the Bill was aimed at marginalising Muslims.

In his comments on social media, Rahul said, "The Waqf (Amendment) Bill is a weapon aimed at marginalising Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights."