- India passes the bill to improve the owner of Muslim land.
- The opposition accused the Modi government of pursuing “polarization politics”.
- The government argues that the bill will increase transparency to powerful Waqf boards.
New Delhi: The Parliament of India passed a bill on Thursday, asking the Hindu nationalist government to improve extremely rich Muslim land-owner organizations to promote accountability, while the opposition called it a “attack” on the minority.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government argues that the bill will increase transparency to more than a dozen powerful Waqf boards, which controls the assets gifted by Muslim charitable arrangements.
There are about two dozen Waqf boards across India, with some 900,000 acres (365,00 hectares), a multi-Arab-dollar property empire, which makes them one of the largest land holders with railway and defense forces.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who introduced the bill on Wednesday, said it would investigate corruption and mismanagement and reduce the grip of some grieved groups.
Following the marathon debate, the bill was spread by the lower house of Parliament in the early hours of Thursday.
It is expected to be passed by the upper house of Parliament on Thursday, handing over a huge powers to civil servants under the supervision of Waqf boards.
The internal minister and a close Modi colleague Amit Shah said that changes will “help to catch people catching people who lease the properties” for personal gains.
“The money, which can be used to help the development of minorities, is being stolen,” he said.
Non-Muslim, which will be included in boards as part of the new bill, will only be involved in “administrative” cases, Shah said.
However, the opposition parties accused the government of pursuing “polarization politics” at the cost of 200 million Muslims of India.
Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi said, “The Waqf (Amendment) Bill is a weapon aimed at marginalizing Muslims and fulfilling their personal laws and property rights.”
Gandhi called it an “attack” by Hindu nationalists, alleging that “today was aimed at the purpose of Muslims, but an example has been set to target other communities in the future”.
Opposition parties saw the bill as part of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who see efforts to win favor with their right -wing Hindu base.
Modi’s BJP has supported the right-wing claims of mosques built on ancient Hindu temples and has led efforts to build a grand Hindu temple at the site of a demolished Mughal-era mosque in Ayodhya.
