April 2, 2025
Lok Sabha MP Abu Taher Khan’s speech on The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, as Reported by Joint Committee and The Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024
Thank you, Chairperson sir. Today, I am speaking in this August house on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025. Hon’ble Nishikant Dubey has spoken a lot. He articulated remarkably grand pronouncements today. He should have at least considered that just as the railways own most land in India today, the minority community is donating land in the name of Allah. Muslim brothers are donating their own land for good purposes and for the development of the minority community. On one hand, graveyards and khankahs; on the one hand, mosques and madrasas are being built for the upliftment of the poor people – the brothers of the Muslim minority community donate this Waqf property for this noble cause. And when they donate, many people raise questions about whether they have legal rights. Waqf board has a CEO-ranked person- he is the chief executive officer. He is an SGO-ranked officer. He investigates and checks, then hearings are held, and then these are recorded. Yet, it is being repeatedly said here that there is no clarity on how these properties are being registered, and in what manner they are being registered. It is equally unfortunate and shocking that the party, which is claiming to care a lot about Muslims and is shedding crocodile tears for them, has no Muslim representation among their Lok Sabha and Assembly members. They don’t have the will to make a minority representative contest the elections. Their ideology is to divide the country in the name of religion. They want to create division between Hindus and Muslims. To get their benefit, they have brought this Waqf Amendment Act into India and are creating conflict between one community and another. This is very unfortunate and abominable for us. I would like to humbly appeal that since this donation is for the development of the Muslim community, people of other communities shouldn’t be part of the board. What about the divine properties of various Hindu communities today? How many people of any Muslim community have been made members of that trust? Where is their representation? Were they given those opportunities? We want to know where is that opportunity being given? Nowhere. Only the Muslim community is being attacked repeatedly in various ways, is being tortured, and is being treated unfairly. We cannot support the BJP party’s agenda of crushing the hopes of the minority community throughout India by hook or by crook. I want to state one thing very clearly, we are totally opposed to this bill. Once the Bharatiya Janata Party brought a bill for the benefit of the farmers. There was a mass movement for a year, then they were forced to withdraw from that bill. Here I am proclaiming today that no matter how hard they try, they will definitely have to withdraw from this bill even after it is passed. We will not accept it in any way, and we are not going to accept it today. We will protest against it wholeheartedly.
