Bhubaneswar: This is majorly one of the most polarizing issues in the recent past. The opposition has been attacking the government and its allies parties over the new set legislation on the Waqf amendment bill 2025. It brings forth a series of reforms in the 1995 Waqf amendment act as claimed by the government. One amongst those reformative steps is inclusion of two non muslims at both central Waqf council as well as at the state Waqf Boards. The muslim personal law board and the entire opposition is protesting but the numbers are still on the side of the government especially in the Lok Sabha. With certain changes proposed the allies parties, Nitish Kumar and Chamdrababu Naidu have accepted the new bill. The Modi government seems to be managing this new bill by taking the advantage of numbers in the Lok Sabha.
Whether this reforms brought by the government is welcoming:
The new Waqf bill is surrounded with stirred controversy across the country as it is a highly sensitive and polarized matter. The government is claiming if this bill is not passed as an amendment, in the future the Waqf council/ board would declare the parliament building or anything and everything to get their properties. It is a statutory body not a religious entity but having the provision that not anyone or organisation can interfere with their claim. Whatever the Waqf demands would be final. All across the country there are several prominent places, including temples, houses, parks, many public places, and private properties declared as Waqf lands in the past whereas many court cases are going on over these matters. So it is the welfare of the common people to make this rigid law people’s friendly so that in the future no poor farmer would have to run after the courts, offices to offices showing documents for proving the land to be held his own.
The opposition sees it as another step forward to marginalize the muslims by getting into their community space without taking people into confidence. The government is claiming reform but actually muscle flexing and showing a bossy attitude.
The analysts say more than the bill and the amendment the scenario where it is getting passed is problematic. The eco- system currently in the country is critical to this debate. The muslims today are legitimately concerned about the intent of the government whether it’s good or bad. The merit of the bill, having three factors. One is Waqf bill 2025 removes “Waqf by Users”, which means there may not be the documents to establish the ownership of the property. So about 60 percent of the Waqf properties are Waqf by Users that has no legitte document to produce for its ownership.
The supreme court verdict during the Babri Masjid demolition case in 2019 upheld the Waqf By Users. According to this act the Waqf By Users is inapplicable, which means it opens several doors for many cases as these properties have no documents as they are very old from 13 th century onwards.
Here the new Waqf bill is removing the Waqf By Users. As it is mentioned many of the mosques, madrasas, kabarstans might not have the documents to prove their legitimacy as they are extremely ancient. The worry arises that the real encroacher to these properties would be none other than the government itself.
The Waqf bill says it is mandatory to appoint non muslims in the Waqf council or state boards. It is constantly seen that the reaction of the people are of both ways, some are supporting it and some seen to be opposing.
Most of the common muslims lack the knowledge of the Waqf Board and how it can affect or benefit them. The basic purpose of this board is to guarantee the necessity of the poor, underprivileged, widow, destitute, downtrodden, orphans etc. The Waqf had been mismanaged till now. It should have been treated as a revenue generator, properties that can get monetary gains to the marginalized sections in the muslim community. The asset is not managed the way it should have been. The supporters of the new bill opine so.
-OdishaAge
