NEW DELHI: Continuing to play up the support the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has received from Christian bodies, minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju in Rajya Sabha Thursday picked up from where he had left off in LS a day earlier.
Seeking support for the bill, he cited the case of 600 Christian families from Munambam in Kerala who are contesting the waqf board’s claim over their ancestral land. “You should listen at least to the church,” Rijiju said in what was seen as a reference to BJP’s charge that sections in Congress have been insensitive to the church’s concerns.
Rijiju justified the removal of Section 40 of the Waqf Act, which gave waqf boards power to declare property as waqf. He highlighted support from organizations like the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and argued that the provisions of the Waqf Act were being misused, affecting ordinary people. tnn
