LIVE | Rajya Sabha passes Waqf Bill (128-95)

CPI(M)’s John Brittas said, “This Bill is a cardinal violation of every single tenet of the Constitution. It violates secularism, it violates federalism, it violates fundamental rights. Until now, they (BJP) used to only divide people, but now they want to create division among Gods too.

The biggest aberration of this Bill is that they have, at one stroke, made waqf a non-Muslim body. Yes, Waqf is a statutory body and it is also open to CAG audits. Will non-Hindus now be on Hindu temple trusts too? With this legislation you only want to alienate Muslims and alienate them from waqf too. This Rijiju doesn't understand even the ABC of waqf.

Is this a Bill a legal cover for bulldozer? We are forced to think this way today. You are doing dog-whistle politics. You want non-Muslims on waqf boards. I would be happiest the day you apply the same rule uniformly to trusts of all religious endowments, but are you keeping all experiments only for Muslims?

Your ban on waqf by user is very interesting. Every community has its institutional memory, memory of time. How will you prove documentation for properties that are ages old? You will create a mountain of litigation and then you will burden the DM, who already has more than enough to deal with, to adjudicate.

Today you are very concerned about Pasmanda representation on waqf boards. This is good, but then why are you so scared when we say backward castes and other castes should be enumerated in Census?

The problem today is you (govt) don't listen, you only make people listen. There is a huge difference between listening and making others listen to you. If you were listening, you would not have brought this Bill.

I am urging you with folded hands, please send this Bill again for consultations.

AAP’s Sanjay Singh continued, “The minister said 1 crore suggestions came on the Bill. I dare the minister to make public how many suggestions backed the Bill and how many were against it. I was a member of the JPC, maximum recommendations we received were against the Bill.

Today they are saying this Bill is for welfare of women. You talk of women welfare. Has RSS had any woman chief? Has BJP had any woman chief? Your minister is misleading the House by saying the Bill is for women representation. Women representation on Waqf boards and tribunals was assured through the 2013 Act.

You talk of Waqf Board having non-Muslim members. Can you make non-Hindus members of Ram Mandir trust, can you make non-Sikhs members of Sikh Gurudwara trusts, can you make non-Christians members of Christian endowment trusts? Your trust deed for Ram Mandir expressly excludes Muslims from being members. How can you make non-Muslims members of waqf?

You are conspiring to trigger unrest, riots, violence in the country.

You say waqf properties should generate revenue. You talk about Sachar Committee saying 12,000 crore could have been generated from Waqf. I say, why don't you bring Nirav Modi back to India, recover 20,000 crore from him, give 12,000 to waqf and earn a profit of 8,000 crore for yourself. Will you do that?

You say Muslims will have to practise Islam for 5 years to be able to create waqf. I want to ask, how will you determine if a person is practising Islam for 5 years? Are you planning to put CCTVs in homes of Muslims who want to create waqf just to see if they offer namaz 5 times or not. You want to create a surveillance state. We will never allow it. We will never support this Bill. We demand this Bill should be scrapped.”

AAP's MP Sanjay Singh said, “Since our childhood, we have heard that Sarkar is mai-baap. It cares for the people, the country's children like a mother and father. But if a Sarkar starts working against its children, attacking them, then it is not mai-baap, it is a sauteli maa (step mother).

When I hear the BJP speak about Muslim welfare, I feel like I am hearing Kapil Sharma's comedy circus. In both Houses of Parliament, barring Ghulam Ali (nominated RS MP), you don't have a single Muslim MP. Your senior Muslim leaders, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Hussain, have been sidelined and made to sit at home. You are talking of Muslim welfare?

Today, you want to take over waqf properties and give them to your friends. But I can tell everyone, you will do the same to properties of people from other religions also. You people did not even spare the Ram Mandir. You stole from it too. You people are chanda-chor (donation thief). You people stole land allotted for Ram Mandir and sold it at high rates.”

There was pandemonium in the House as the BJP protested. Vice Chairman Ghanshyam Tiwari directed "all references" to Ram Mandir be expunged.

Union minister Bhupendra Yadav said Sanjay Singh was raising irrelevant issues and the Chair should not allow him to speak on anything except the topic of discussion.

Tiruchi Siva contests Yadav's point of order and says only the Chair, not a member, can decide what is irrelevant.

Tiwari says issues on Ram Mandir are not relevant to the discussion and hence expunged.

DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said, “We reject this Bill in its entirety because it is legally flawed, Constitutionally indefensible, and morally reprehensible.

Why is a certain community being targeted? The intention is very important. This is not to reform but to control the establishments of a community. The intention is mala fide and deplorable.

The Bill is anti-secular and ultra vires of the Constitution. The solution is 5 kms away at the Supreme Court and we will seek recourse there. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has already passed a resolution unanimously to this effect.

The Constitution has assured Muslims many fundamental rights but they are being deprived of these. When Jinnah founded Pakistan, he asked Muslims of India to come to Pakistan but our Muslims decided to stay here. Will we not recognise today their contribution to India?

Again and again secularism is being dealt a blow. This country cannot be for one. They don't accept multilingualism, they want one language, one culture, one religion.

Today in Parliament, there is no point in sending Bills to Parliamentary standing or select committees. I was on the JPC, I know. Nothing we say is accepted. Only recommendations of the ruling side are accepted. So what is the point of these committees today? How long will you go on like this?

What is happening in this country today? In BJP-ruled Haryana, you removed Eid this year from the list of gazetted holidays. In BJP-ruled UP, on Holi, 200 mosques were covered. Are we living in an independent country? Is this a Republic?”

TMC’s Mohd Nadimul Haque continued, “The Bill is a violation of the Basic Structure, is anti-federalism, it is an attack on the Constitution, an attack on Muslims. In the name of reforms, it wants to interfere with our religious practice. What message do you want to give to the Muslims of this country? A Bill they call Umeed has brought despair to the community it is supposed to help.

The provision that only a person practising Islam for 5 years is against the fundamental right to practise religion. Such a provision doesn’t apply to people of any other faith. The JPC has also added that not only the person should be practising Islam but also be able to demonstrate so. How will you certify this? What will demonstrate practice of Islam? You are routinely spreading poison. This Bill, the requirement to provide documentation for waqf properties that may be 100s or 1000s of years old, is nothing but a case of cultural vandalism.”