Bihar: Opposition Mahagathbandhan Protests Against Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Assembly

Patna: The opposition Mahagathbandhan on Wednesday staged a protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in the Bihar Assembly and demanded roll-back of the Bill that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government is likely to bring in ongoing Winter session of Parliament. 

On the third day of the Winter session, the Assembly witnessed an aggressive opposition that strongly protested against Waqf (Amendment) Bill and stressed the need to pass a resolution against it in the Assembly.

Opposition members, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Left parties and Congress first tried to raise the issue of the Bill in the Assembly soon after Question Hour but Speaker Nand Kishor Yadav, a senior BJP leader, rejected the demand for a discussion on the matter.

Unhappy over the Speaker’s stand, opposition members shouted slogans against the Bill and the Central government, several of them trooped into the well, and forced an adjournment till 2 p.m.

The Left parties, including CPI (ML), CPI(M) and CPI MLAs, had staged a protest against the Bill outside the Assembly on the first day of the session and had even raised the issue in the House. On the second day, too, they raised the issue and protested.

CPI (ML) MLA Mahboob Alam said that Bill was a direct attack on Muslims and was designed to disturb communal harmony in the society.

“BJP is hell bent on destroying the basic structure of the Constitution. We have been staging protests against the Bill and demanding that a resolution be passed against it in the Assembly”, he said.

Alam said: “We expect Nitish Kumar, a major ally of BJP, to take stand against the Bill. As the Narendra Modi-led government fully depends on the support of JD-U (Janata Dal-United), the party should oppose the Bill to safeguard the Constitution.”

Congress MLA Shakil Ahmad Khan said he had appealed to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar not to support the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and pass a resolution against it in the Assembly. “This Bill is against basic
foundation of the Constitution that guarantees rights to the minorities,” he added.

Leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav of RJD told the media in the premises of the Assembly that BJP’s stand was clear on the Bill but Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is president of JD-U, should make his stand clear on the issue.

“PM Narendra Modi-led central government has been attacking the Constitution and weakening it. Till date, neither Nitish Kumar nor his party has officially made their stand clear on the Bill. There is
clear cut confusion over their silence in public,” he said.

However, a senior JD-U leader told NewsClick that Nitish Kumar was known for his secular credentials and would never compromise on it. “The party and our leader are waiting for the right time to take a
stand. As of now, BJP is powerful at the Centre and our party is an ally at the Centre and in the state, so we have to take care till the right time arrives for a stand”, he said.

In August 2024, after the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was presented in Parliament, senior JD-U leader and Union Minister Lalan Singh strongly supported it. After his loud support in Parliament, his party tried to distance itself from his stand with some party leaders clarifying that it was his personal statement and not of the party.

Not only JD-U, other secular allies of BJP, supporting the Modi government, are also playing differently on this issue.

Meanwhile, various Muslim organisation, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind are gearing up to mobilise the community to protest against the Bill if the Modi government goes ahead with it.

Islamic scholar Maulana Arshad Madani, president, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, while addressing a gathering of Muslims in Patna on November 25, urged the secular allies of NDA, including Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu not to support the Bill.

According to Muslim organisations, the Waqf Act underwent amendments in 1954, 1995, and 2013. But the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was a different one brought to target Muslims and destroy and manipulate the status of Waqf properties. 

After the uproar by the opposition INDIA bloc over the Bill soon after it was introduced in Parliament, the Central government formed a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee, which proposed 40 amendments to the existing 1995 Act.

The writer is a freelancer based in Patna.