Change in law is the need of both time and waqf, we have to get out of the craze of ‘touch me not’: Naqvi

New Delhi : Political stir is going to increase once again regarding the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 introduced during the recently concluded Parliament session. The first meeting of the JPC formed to discuss the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 in detail is going to be held on Thursday, August 22. This amendment bill is very important for the BJP and the party strategists want this bill to be passed in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. However, now a lot also depends on the report of the JPC. The BJP has to not only appease the opposition parties on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 but also convince allies like Chandrababu Naidu and Chirag Paswan to vote in support of the bill. In an exclusive conversation with IANS, former Union Minister of Minority Affairs and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi openly expressed his/her views on all these questions. he/she said that the amendment is the need of both time and waqf and it will be considered with an open heart in the meetings of the JPC.

Talking to IANS, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that he/she has already said that this entire system (of Waqf Board) will have to come out of the ‘touch me not’ fad, politics and thinking. The government has brought this bill to make the Waqf system better.

Responding to questions raised by the opposition as well as allies, he/she said that this is not the first time that the Waqf laws are being amended, amendments have been made in it earlier as well. Amendments were made during the tenure of the Congress and during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as well. The bill introduced by the government should be debated, discussed and analysed in its details, that is why this bill has been sent to the JPC. The JPC is a constitutional system and this bill will be discussed with an open heart in its meetings. Whatever argument any political party has, it will come up in the meetings of the JPC, it will be discussed and everything will also come up in the JPC report.

Opposing the attempts to give a communal colour to this bill, he/she said that many questions are being raised regarding this bill, attempts are being made to create confusion and therefore it has been sent to the JPC to discuss the arguments of all the parties. The clearer the picture is regarding this bill, the better it will be for both religion and the country.

he/she said that this amendment is the need of both the time and the Waqf and it should not be assumed that someone is being attacked or this bill is against someone. This is an inclusive reform on which communal war is not at all right. Both Hindus and Muslims are stakeholders in this matter and this should also be clear to everyone.

In fact, amid strong opposition from opposition parties, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2024 during the Parliament session. JDU, TDP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) included in the NDA alliance supported this bill while supporting the government. However, GM Harish Balayogi from TDP supported the bill and also said that if this bill is sent to a committee, then TDP will not have any problem.

Accepting the demand of allies and opposition parties, the government proposed to send it to the JPC to discuss the bill in detail. This joint panel of both the houses formed to discuss the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 includes 31 MPs from various political parties including the ruling and opposition. These include 21 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 MPs from Rajya Sabha.

The Lok Sabha members include Jagdambika Pal, Nishikant Dubey, Tejasvi Surya, Aparajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Dilip Saikia, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, D.K. Aruna, Gaurav Gogoi, Imran Masood, Mohammad Javed, Maulana Mohibullah, Kalyan Banerjee, A. Raja, Lavu Sri Krishna Devaraylu, Dileshwar Kamet, Arvind Sawant, M Suresh Gopinath, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Arun Bharti, Asaduddin Owaisi.

From Rajya Sabha, Brij Lal, Medha Vishram Kulkarni, Ghulam Ali, Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal, Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, V Vijaysai Reddy, M Mohammed Abdullah, Sanjay Singh and D Veerendra Hegde are the members of this JPC.

BJP MP Jagdambika Pal has been appointed as the chairman of this JPC. The first meeting of the JPC will be held on August 22. In this first meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Minority Affairs will give information about the ‘Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024’ and the proposed amendments to be introduced in this bill.

Officials from the Department of Legislative and Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Law and Justice will also be present in this meeting to clarify information related to all legal aspects. After considering the bill, the JPC has to submit its report on the last day of the first week of the next session of Parliament.