NEW DELHI: Former minority affairs minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has urged the Waqf system to move beyond its “touch-me-not” syndrome, following the government’s plan to introduce a Bill to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards. This amendment aims to ensure more accountability and transparency in their functioning and mandates the inclusion of women in these bodies.Sources indicate this move is in response to demands from within the Muslim community.
The proposed Bill would require Waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to establish their actual valuation.
Naqvi expressed his views through a post on X, emphasizing the need for the Waqf system to adapt and modernize.
“The Waqf system will have to come out of the madness of ‘touch-me-not’ syndrome-politics,” Naqvi stated.
He further commented on the resistance to change, saying, “communal attack on inclusive reforms is not right.”
Several Muslim organizations and clerics, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, have expressed their opposition to the proposed amendments. They believe any interference with the legal status and powers of Waqf boards is unacceptable.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has criticized the government’s move, claiming it seeks to undermine the autonomy of Waqf boards. He accused the BJP-led NDA government of having an agenda against Waqf boards and properties.
“The BJP has been against Waqf boards and Waqf properties ‘from the beginning’ and it has made attempts to finish these as per its ‘Hindutva agenda’,” Owaisi asserted.