Waqf amendment Bill an attack on Constitution, says Opposition

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on April 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday (April 2, 2025) said the Waqf amendment Bill was an attack on the basic structure of the Constitution and was aimed a “polarising” and dividing the country on the basis of religion.

During the discussion on ‘The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and The Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024’ in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition MPs said the government was trying to hide its failures through this Bill and though NDA allies were supporting the Bill, they were not happy about it.

The MPs of the INDIA bloc also questioned the provision in the Bill that only a practising Muslim of five years can create a waqf property.

Govt wants to spoil existing ‘brotherhood’ in the country

Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi said the government’s aim was to “defame” and “disenfranchise” the minorities in the country, while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said this Bill would be the BJP’s “waterloo” as though NDA allies were supporting the Bill, they were actually very unhappy. Congress MP K.C. Venugopal asked whether the government would start a separate department for finding out who is a practising Muslim for five years. DMK’s A Raja challenged the government’s assertion that the Bill incorporated all recommendations of the JPC.

Mr. Gogoi, who opened the debate from the Opposition benches, said “This Bill is an attack on the basic structure of the Constitution,” and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s entire speech was an attack on the Constitution. He said the government had four goals — “to dilute the Constitution, defame minorities in India, divide the Indian society and disenfranchise the minority communities”.

He said that it was misleading to say that the Bill was discussed threadbare. “There were four meetings of the Minority Affairs Ministry in 2023 and not even once waqf was discussed. Till November 2023, the Ministry did not think there was a new Bill needed…so I would like to ask whether some other department made the Bill”.

He said the government’s political objective was to spoil the existing “brotherhood” in the country.

They had not accepted even one amendment proposed by the Opposition in the Joint Parliamentary Committee. There was no clause-by-clause discussion in the JPC.

On the clause that only those who are practising Muslims for five years will be able to create waqf properties, he said, “Minorities will have to give certificates of their religion now”.

Mr. Venugopal said: “Are you going to start a separate department for finding out who is a five-year Muslim”. He added that the Bill was a direct attack on the Constitution.

The Kerala MP said he was glad the Minorities Affairs Minister mentioned the Catholic Bishops’s Conference of India’s (CBCI) support for the Bill as he would like to mention that the VHP “had been formed against a papal visit”.

He also said the CBCI had said in the final word that rights of minorities must be protected and reminded the government that the organisation had given many memorandums of churches being attacked.

“Your agenda is to destroy the minorities and attack freedom of religion in this country. You are trying to divide the country for political benefits,” he alleged.

‘Bid to hide failures’

Mr. Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the Bill had been brought to hide the failures of the BJP government. “Why don’t we discuss demonetisation, joblessness, cleaning of the Ganga and other issues”.

He said whenever the BJP gets a new Bill, it was to hide its failures. They were getting the waqf Bill to hide the number of Hindus killed in the Kumbh Mela held recently. “I would like to ask the government what are the names of the 30 people who died and the 1,000 Hindus who are lost.”

“Bringing waqf Bill is the BJP’s political game, it is a new form of their communal politics. The BJP wants to appease those supporters who are now distancing themselves from the party because of its policies. As there has been a drop in the vote share, especially in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has been trying to manage votes and this Bill is being introduced for managing votes,” Mr. Yadav said.

He alleged that the BJP wants the Muslim community to feel that their rights are being attacked so that they react and the party gets to indulge in politics of polarisation because that is their agenda.

“They (BJP) are saying that whether it is Railways land or Defence’s, it is India’s land. The issue bigger than Waqf land is the land where China has set up its villages. But to avoid any questions or uproar about the potential dangers, this (Waqf Amendment) Bill is being introduced,” he said.

Mr. Raja attacked the government for claiming that the revised Bill incorporates most of the recommendations of the JPC and dared Mr. Rijiju to compare the text of the JPC report and the Bill. “If they are the same, I willl resign from the House”.

The DMK leader also said that the Minister, while introducing the Bill for the first time last year, had claimed large tracts of land in a village in Tiruchi had been claimed as Waqf land. “The JPC went there and the claims were demolished by the District Collector”. He also took a swipe at the BJP, saying it is talking about reform of Waqf boards but doesn’t have “a single Muslim MP to pilot the Bill”.

TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee said waqf was an institution for religious and charitable purposes. “The Muslims have constitutional rights to manage their own affairs in the matter of religion because waqf property belongs to Allah. They also have the right to administer such properties. The purpose of the Bill is a clear breach of the rights of the Muslims to perform their religious duty and is therefore in violation of the Article 26 of the Constitution.”