Union minister Amit Shah, speaking at the debate over the Waqf Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha this evening, presented a long list of properties that he said were given for Waqf. The list included land belonging to temples, land belonging to other religions, the  government and others. His point: “You cannot donate someone else’s property. You donate something which is yours”.

It was a reinforcement of the government’s contention that major lands and properties almost went to Waqf but for last-minute saves. 

The Karnataka High Court, he said, had to stop grabbing of 602 sq km by Waqf. 

“Properties in (Delhi’s) Lutyens zone went to Waqf, and they started taking over government land… In Tamil Nadu, a 400-year-old temple property was declared as Waqf’s. Land for a 5-star establishment was given to Waqf for 12,000 a month… Several properties belonging to different religions were declared as Waqf property, including Chandra Shekhar Azad Park in Prayagraj,’ he said.  

Speaking before Mr Shah, Union minister Kiren Rijiju had said that a case going on since 1970 in Delhi involved several properties, including the Parliament building. 

“The Delhi Waqf Board had claimed these… the case was in court but then the UPA denotified 123 properties and gave them to the Waqf Board,” he said. 

“If we had not introduced this amendment today, even the building we are sitting in could have been claimed as Waqf property. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not come to power… several other properties would also have been de-notified,” the minister said.

Mr Shah blamed the UPA government for this situation, saying the Waqf rules were changed days before the 2014 general election. 

Calling it another example of politics of appeasement, he said, “Someone goes to the US to study and comes back to see that his land is Waqf property. Can you make a church, a gurdwara, on the government land? No”.