The Indian Parliament handed a controversial invoice on Friday that will increase authorities oversight of properties held by Muslim trusts, regardless of vocal protests that the non secular minority was being singled out for interference.
The invoice would permit the appointment of non-Muslims to panels administering the trusts, referred to as Waqf boards, and empower state officers to be adjudicators of disputes.
The Waqfs — whose authorized basis in India is over 100 years previous — are one of many largest landowners within the nation, managing greater than 800,000 properties protecting practically one million acres, based on authorities figures. A 2006 report commissioned by the federal government estimated the worth of the properties — which embody mosques, non secular seminaries, graveyards and different land typically donated by people — at over $14 billion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling get together has stated the adjustments in how the trusts are run was wanted to enhance effectivity and accountability, and stop abuse.
Forward of introducing the invoice in Parliament for a vote, Kiren Rijiju, India’s minister for parliamentary and minority affairs, stated the laws was not an assault on Muslim rights however a mandatory reform to guard Waqf property from misuse.
“That is about transparency, not interference,” Mr. Rijiju stated.
Not like throughout Mr. Modi’s earlier time period, when he used an absolute majority to push laws via Parliament with typically heavy-handed swiftness, the Waqf invoice underwent months of deliberation. It additionally noticed two days of passionate however cordial debate that went nicely previous midnight every day earlier than the vote.
The sparring — more and more uncommon within the legislature, the place fewer payments have come beneath deliberation and scrutiny in recent times — was an indication that Mr. Modi, who misplaced his majority in final summer season’s election, now wants the assistance of allied events to cross laws. However it additionally confirmed that his well-entrenched Bharatiya Janata Occasion was in a position to get its method even with decreased energy, and that his parliamentary allies solely acted as a slight moderating issue.
Faizan Mustafa, the vice chancellor of Chankaya Nationwide Legislation College, stated that whereas the Parliament has the ability to enact laws on non secular and charitable endowments, these legal guidelines may nonetheless face additional checks within the courts.
“If any provision of the Waqf invoice is in contravention of elementary rights, it might be challenged and probably struck down within the courts,” he stated. “There may be an argument that Muslim endowments are handled otherwise from Hindu endowments legal guidelines in some locations,” he added.
Many critics of the brand new Waqf invoice agree that there was a necessity to enhance the administration of the trusts. However in addition they say they’re involved that the invoice is the ruling Hindu nationalist get together’s newest try to focus on the nation’s largest non secular minority.
Whereas the structure protects the rights of non secular teams to handle their very own affairs, some observers say this invoice gives a brand new authorized foundation for the authorities to focus on the Muslim group.
In states the place Mr. Modi’s B.J.P. is in energy, officers have been bulldozing Muslim properties after alleging encroachment, typically ignoring courtroom orders on due course of, the critics say.
Proper-wing teams have laid declare to a number of mosques, arguing in courtroom that they have been as soon as the location of Hindu worship — regardless of Indian legal guidelines that forestall altering the standing of locations of worship. Vigilantes have additionally attacked Muslim shrines, taking hammers to graves.
Imran Pratapgarhi, a Muslim member of Parliament from the opposition Indian Nationwide Congress, stated he didn’t consider B.J.P. assertions that the invoice was meant to learn the Muslim group.
“I’m requesting the federal government: At the least don’t snatch away our locations of worship, don’t run bulldozers over our properties, and allow us to be at peace in our graves,” Mr. Pratapgarhi stated.
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