– Arshad Shaikh
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 was passed by India’s Parliament on April 3-4, 2025, after marathon debates in both Houses. The Bill, which has now become law after getting the Presidential nod, has been hailed by the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as a triumph of reform and transparency. However, the Indian Muslim community has a different take on the Bill. For Muslims in India, quotes such “No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority” (British essayist Joseph Addison), and “Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny” (Anglo-Irish social theorist Edmund Burke), resonate deeply. Since the mainstream media is now a “lost cause” and acts as the aggressive spokesperson of the ruling party, there is a lot of scope to call out the bluff prepared and sold by the proponents of the Waqf Amendment Act.
The Corruption Argument
The primary intent behind this Act was to rectify the purported mismanagement of Muslim endowments in India. The Union Health Minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, J.P. Nadda screamed in Parliament, “The basic aim of this Bill is to bring in reforms and proper management of Waqf properties.” However, as Malik Moatasim Khan, Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), remarked during a TV debate, “If the issue of Waqf were likened to a sick person, then rather than treating him with medicine, he has been poisoned to death.”
For example, the Bill says that in case of a dispute regarding a Waqf property (if it belongs to the government), the State Government may appoint a designated officer (above the rank of Collector / DM) to determine its status. Consider the numbers: over 73,000 of India’s 8.8 lakh Waqf properties are disputed, many involving claims by government bodies. Which government bureaucrat today has the guts to go against his/her own government and jeopardise one’s career by adjudicating against the wishes of his/her “political boss”.
The same point was reinforced at the monthly press conference of JIH, where JIH President, Syed Sadatullah Husaini astutely remarked, “The government has repeatedly cited mismanagement, legal disputes, and misappropriation of Waqf properties as reasons for this amendment. However, the Act contains no concrete measures to address these issues. Instead, adding non-Muslim members and shifting control to government-designated officers will do nothing to solve the problem. In fact, undue political and bureaucratic interference has historically been the primary source of corruption and mismanagement in Waqf affairs.”
The transparency argument is a Trojan horse. It conceals a power grab that aims to undermine Muslim self-governance.
The Non-Muslim Inclusion
Home Minister, Amit Shah tried to pacify things in the Lok Sabha, saying, “No non-Muslim will be part of Waqf. Understand this clearly. This bill does not include any provision for non-Muslims to manage religious institutions, nor does the government intend to introduce such a measure.”
He accused the Opposition of fear-mongering. Yet, the bill’s text contradicts him. It explicitly allows non-Muslims to be appointed to Waqf Boards and Councils.
Jagdambika Pal, the BJP MP and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chairman, justified the inclusion of non-Muslims by citing the Sachar Committee’s recommendations. Unwittingly he denied his own Home Minister. The Sachar Committee, tasked with assessing Muslim socio-economic conditions in 2005, never suggested diluting the religious character of Waqf governance. Its focus was on improving representation and efficiency within the Muslim community, not opening sacred institutions to external control.
Again, the words of JIH President, Syed Sadatullah Husaini proclaim the truth with clarity, “We express deep concern over the misleading arguments presented by treasury members during the parliamentary debate. Waqf Boards are not equivalent to the Charity Commissioner, as falsely claimed in the Lok Sabha. Several states have exclusive legislations for Hindu and Sikh endowments, ensuring that regulatory and supervisory authorities belong exclusively to the respective religious communities.”
The Five-Year Discriminatory Rule
Perhaps the most absurd claim surrounds the Bill’s requirement that only those practising Islam for at least five years can dedicate property as Waqf. A BJP MP from the JPC told the media, that this ensures converts “understand what they’re doing” and aren’t “walking blind into Waqf pledges.”
This reasoning is both insulting and absurd. The 1995 Waqf Act did not impose any time constraints on new converts to Islam. It allowed any Muslim to create a Waqf. In Islam, once you accept the faith, you enter into it completely and whole-heartedly. So, why single out one faith? Hindu, Sikh, and Christian endowments are allowed to operate without such conditions. This selective criterion is highly discriminatory and violates Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
Welfare or Polarisation?
During the Waqf debate in Parliament, BJP MP, Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed, “The government has brought this Bill for the welfare of poor Muslims. It will end the control by a few over Waqf properties and ensure that the benefits reach the marginalised sections of Muslims. If they really cared about welfare, why not fix the 21,000 stuck Waqf cases in courts? Or speed up digitising property records, as experts suggest? Instead, the Bill adds more red tape and harsh penalties for “misuse.”
These new rules that will likely hurt Muslim Waqifs (caretakers of the Waqf property) the most. Trivedi says the Bill stops “a few people” from controlling Waqf assets, but really, it just hands power to an even smaller group: government officials. This isn’t help, it is state control disguised as benevolence. The BJP talks big, but where’s the proof? Rijiju claims “crores” will benefit, but there’s no data. How many poor Muslims? How exactly? They promise accountability but give no plan for actually getting Waqf funds to those in need. Some political analysts feel that by stirring up debates about Muslim-owned properties, the ruling party is doing vote-bank politics to energise their Hindutva supporters while labelling opponents as “too soft” on Muslims.
A Call to See Through the Bluff
Indian Muslims should recognise the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 for what it really is. It is a tool to harass them with the core intention of consolidation of Hindu vote bank. The BJP supporters in Parliament have twisted the truth, hiding their real motives behind confusing legal language and false claims. This isn’t about transparency or welfare; it’s about control, and about rewriting the rules to diminish Muslim agency. The nearly 200 million strong Muslim community of plural Bharat takes solace from the verse – “But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.” (Quran, Surah Al-Anfal, 8:30).
