By Sushil Kutty
After Partition, some Muslims remained in India, choosing not to go to Pakistan. Since then, Indian Muslims never tired of stating “we remained in India out of our own choice”. Today, after 78 I-Days, they say, “Ye Desh Kisi Ka Baap Ka Nahi hai!” It would be foolish to question them. Especially, when there is a Muslim Waqf Board and the board lays claim to over 9 lakh acre of India’s landmass.
The Congress government passed the Waqf Board Act. The Modi government has brought in the Waqf Board Amendment Bill 2024 and Waqf claims skyrocketed. A Joint Parliamentary Committee is studying the amendment Bill and Waqf acreage is closer to 10 lakh acres than the nine lakh acres before the introduction of the amendment Bill.
New Waqf claims are being made from Jammu to Kerala and Karnataka. On lands belonging to Christians in Kerala to Hindu temples in Delhi. The new Parliament building in New Delhi is on Waqf land, said one Muslim politician. The question boils down to can the Centre stand up to the Waqf Board before a quarter or half of India becomes Waqf?
The Waqf Board Act is a water-tight piece of legislation. Can the Modi government stop Muslims from “Waqfing” India bit by bit like the “salami slicing” at the Line of Actual Control by the Chinese PLA? But while China will agree to a settlement, those speaking for the Waqf Board haven’t shown any such inclination.
The answer to “Ye Desh Kisi Ka Baap Ka Nahi Hai” is that the whole of India is the Waqf’s for the taking. Nothing the central government does can stop the Muslim community to appropriate India for themselves if push comes to shove. It is only a matter of time before the Muslim and Secular MPs will cross the ‘272-Rubicon’. Also, only a Muslim congregation can warn political parties to fall in line or pay the price.
That is the warning to Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar, both of whom are the “crutches” holding the Modi government up. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind told Naidu and Nitish to take note of “Muslim sentiments” and stop the passage of the Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which could happen in the Winter Session of Parliament, starting later this month.
Ideally, there should be no such thing as “Muslim sentiment” or “Hindu sentiment” and “Sikh sentiment” or “Buddhist/Jain/Parsi/Christian sentiment” in secular India with equality at the core of it. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind cannot use threats to withdraw Muslim support to political parties nor can it use street veto to impose its will on the central government. The Jamiat should be shown its place in a secular democracy.
Muslim sentiments can take a back-seat. A Joint Parliamentary Committee is discussing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and Parliament cannot be derailed because of “Muslim sentiment”. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind adopted a resolution at a “Save The Constitution” convention in Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The crux of which was: “Parties within the NDA that claim to be secular should distance themselves from supporting this dangerous proposed bill and to prove their secular credentials.”
FYI, parties in the opposition are against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 while the JD(U) and the TDP are part of the Modi coalition government. A vice president of the TDP was at the Jamait convention and he pledged support, but N Chandrababu Naidu has too much on his plate. For one thing, there is Amarawati, the proposed state capital, a dream project of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Either Naidu stands up to “Muslim sentiment” or he gets the Centre’s largesse to build Andhra Pradesh’s dream capital. He cannot have both. There are also other central projects allocated to Andhra Pradesh and Naidu has his own ‘IT City’, which needs the Centre’s nod and financial support. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is in the grips of a Gordian Knot and the Jamiat is not Alexander the Great’s sword, to cut asunder the Knot!
Jamait Chief Maulana Arshad Madani, who held out the twin threats, one to TDP and JD(U), the other to the Modi government, is neither an elected representative nor does he speak for the Muslim community as a whole. He believes Muslim sentiments and Muslim conventions along with street vetoes can stop Parliament from passing the amendment bill.
Madani has promised to “collect 5 lakh Muslims” in Naidu’s home district of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh to coerce Naidu to stick with Muslim sentiments. A similar crowd will gather in Patna to remind Nitish Kumar of his secular credentials. Will Naidu and Nitish succumb to pressure of this sort? Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The Maulana must be banking on Modi!
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will not because he has made a promise to the people of Bihar and to the Prime Minister to stand with the NDA come what may. And right now, Chandrababu Naidu will not be in a sentimental mush to think that Muslims need a break. There are too many Waqf claims being made even for his secular liking.
Nevertheless, the TDP and JD(U) are both “crutches” of the Modi government and the Maulana isn’t wrong if he thinks “it will be as much a responsibility of the crutches as it would be of those calling the shots in the Central government. Both the TDP and JD(U) will not be able to escape responsibility.” What if there’s a vote on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, and what if it fails the parliament test? Muslim sentiments in India come with the enormous weight of expectations. But then, so do ‘Hindu sentiments’ after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Batenge toh katenge’ warcry. The results in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections, and UP bypolls, will decide what happens to the Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill, 2024. (IPA Service)