'If board becomes autocratic, law is must': JDU blasts Opposition, backs Centre on Waqf Amendment Bill

JDU's Lalan Singh backed the Centre's proposal to amend the Waqf Act on Thursday. He said the bill had nothing to do with mosques and it was a move to bring transparency in the Waqf Boards. "Which provision makes it anti-Muslim," Lalan Singh asked while speaking in the Lok Sabha.  

Singh said some opposition leaders pointed out that just like the Ayodhya Temple can't have any non-Hindus, Waqf should also have the freedom to have only Muslim members. The Bill proposes for the inclusion of Muslim women and non-Muslims in the Waqf Boards. 

Countering this argument, Lalan Singh said there is a difference between temple boards and institutions. "Examples are being given like Ayodhya and Guruvayupan...if you can't understand the difference between temple and institution, what arguments are you searching for? it is not touching your mosques.

Questioning the legitimacy of the Waqf Boards, the JDU MP said that this institution was created by an act. We are making a law to  make that institution transparent...transparency should be there." He said that there should not be autocratic institutions. 

How was the Waqf Board created? It was created by an act. If any institution created by an act becomes autocratic then the government has every right to make a law. They (the opposition) are comparing it with the temple. No division is happening on the basis of religion. They are creating doubts."

"(Congress MP) KC Venugopal is talking about minorities. His party killed thousands of Sikhs, I have witnessed that. "This bill should come. Transparency should come into the institution." 

Opposing the Bill, Venugopal said that this bill is a fundamental attack on the Constitution. He alleged that through this bill, the Centre was putting a provision that non-Muslims also be members of the Waqf governing council. "It is a direct attack on freedom of religion. Next you will go for Christians, then Jains. People of India will not buy this kind of divisive politics now."

Besides Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DNK, TMC, Sharad Pawar-led NCO, AIMIM, and other parties have opposed the Bill. DMK MP Kanimozhi said the Bill was a direct violation of Article 30. which deals with minorities to administer their institutions. "This bill targets a particular religious group."