The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the controversial Waqf Bill, sources told NDTV Thursday morning. The Cabinet accepted 14 alterations made by a joint parliamentary committee – to which the bill had been referred in August – in its meeting on February 19.
The parliamentary committee had tabled its final report in the House on February 13. This was after renewed a stand-off between the opposition and the ruling BJP (and its allies) over the constitution and functioning of the JPC, with the former accusing the latter party’s Lok Sabha MP Jagadambika Pal of bias and rushing the bill through without proper consultation.
The JPC did hold nearly three dozen hearings over the past six months but many of those ended in chaos, and at least one in physical violence after Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee smashed a glass bottle on the table, after claiming provocation from the BJP’s Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
Eventually 66 changes were proposed by the JPC members, of which all 44 from the opposition were rejected, triggering another spat. The 23 from BJP and allied party MPs were accepted.
The JPC had 16 MPs from the BJP and allied parties, and only 10 from the opposition.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill proposed 44 changes to laws governing central and state Waqf boards, which decide how Muslim charitable properties are managed in this country.
The proposals – which include nominating non-Muslim and (at least two) women members to every Waqf Board, as well as a Union Minister, three MPs, and four people of ‘national repute’ to the central Waqf Council – had triggered furious protests from the opposition.
Another proposed change is to limit donations from Muslims who must have been practicing for at least five years – a provision that triggered a row over the term ‘practicing Muslim’.
A third key change is directing an officer nominated by the concerned state to determine if a property is ‘waqf’. In the original draft this decision was left to the District Collector.
Further, under the new rules the Waqf Council can’t claim land.
Sources told NDTV last year the idea is to empower Muslim women and children who had “suffered” under the old law. However, critics, including opposition leaders like the Congress’ KC Venugopal, have said it constitutes a “direct attack on freedom of religion”.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, one of the bill’s fiercest critics, and the DMK’s Kanimozhi have also spoken out, arguing it violates multiple sections of the Constitution, including Article 15 (the right to practice a religion of one’s choice) and Article 30 (the right to minority communities to establish and administer their educational institutions).
