VHP urges Union govt to repeal Waqf Act

Shimla, Sept 30 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday urged the Modi government to repeal the Waqf Act, claiming it was enacted just to appease Muslim voters.

Himachal VHP state secretary Tushar Dogra alleged the Waqf Act enacted and then amended to appease Muslim voters, and to hand over properties of Hindus and the government to Muslims.

He was speaking at a webinar organised by NGO Umang Foundation here.

The demand comes even as the issue is being discussed at the government level. The government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha last month and it was referred to a joint parliamentary panel.

In a statement issued here, Dogra said, "In 1995, only 4 lakh acres of land was in possession of Waqf Boards in the country. But now, they have more than 9 lakh acres of land in their possession due to this draconian law." He said the Waqf Act empowers waqf boards to claim any public and private property without showing any documents and onus to prove the ownership goes to the real owner.

Any dispute arising out of these matters are not tried by judiciary but only the Waqf Tribunal, he said.

He said that an entire village in Tamil Nadu, which also has a 1,500-year-old Hindu temple, has thus become a property of the waqf board. Thousands of public and private properties including the Taj Mahal, a world heritage monument, have been claimed by waqf boards, he claimed.

To appease the Muslim vote bank, the act gave excessive powers to waqf boards, he said.

In 2013, the Manmohan Singh government gave the possession of 123 public properties in Delhi to the waqf board just before the 2014 general elections to woo Muslim voters, he added.

Umang Foundation chairman Ajai Srivastava said a healthy debate is necessary on the issues of national importance and to end appeasement politics. PTI