NEW DELHI: India’s parliament passed a Bill on Thursday (Apr 3) to reform hugely wealthy Muslim land-owning organisations, with the Hindu nationalist government saying it will boost accountability while the opposition called it an “attack” on a minority.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government argues that the Bill will boost transparency to more than a dozen powerful Waqf boards, which control properties gifted by Muslim charitable endowments.
There are around two dozen Waqf boards across India, owning some 365,000ha, a multi-billion-dollar property empire that makes them one of the biggest landholders alongside the railways and the defence forces.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who tabled the Bill on Wednesday, said it would check corruption and mismanagement and reduce the hold of a few entrenched groups.
The Bill was passed by the lower house of parliament after a marathon debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday.
It is expected to be passed by the upper house of parliament later on Thursday, handing far larger powers to civil servants in the supervision of Waqf boards.
Amit Shah, the interior minister and a close Modi aide, said the changes will help “catch the people who lease out properties” for individual gains.
“That money, which could be used to aid the development of minorities, is being stolen,” he said.
Non-Muslims, who will be included in the boards as part of the new bill, will only be involved in “administrative” matters, Shah said.
Source: CNA
