The Waqf Amendment Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha past midnight on Thursday following a lengthy debate. The bill was passed after amendments made by the opposition members were negatived. It proposes far-reaching changes in the 1995 Wakf Act — including representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies. The Bill also seeks to omit Section 40 of the current law relating to the powers of the board to decide if a property is Waqf property.
The Bill was passed with a majority of 288 aye-s to 232 no-s. following a marathon debate in the Lok Sabha that lasted almost 12 hours. Parties in INDIA bloc had decided to oppose the bill and their members voted accordingly. They also pressed for division on some amendments. An amendment was negatived with 231 members voting in favour and 238 against it.
“I want to thank all the leaders for keeping their views regarding the Bill… Some leaders are saying that the bill is unconstitutional, and I want to ask them how they could say that the bill is unconstitutional. If it was unconstitutional, why didn’t the court strike it down?… words like unconstitutional should not be used…the Bill is not against the Constitution, as the opposition claimed…We should not use the words ‘constitutional’ and ‘unconstitutional’ so lightly,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Opposition leaders had repeatedly termed the Bill ‘unconstitutional’ during discussions on Wednesday— with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tearing a copy of the document to mark his dissent. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi dubbed it a “weapon aimed at marginalising Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights”.
“This Bill is an attack on Muslims. The Modi government has started a war on my freedom. My mosques, my Dargahs, my Madrasas are on target. This government is not revealing the truth. This Bill violates Article 14- Equal Protection. Limitations will be imposed. By doing so, the encroacher will become the owner, and a non -Muslim will administrate the Waqf Board. This Bill also violates Equality For Law,” Owaisi added.