Waqf Amendment Act aimed at resolving issues; Cong opposing it to perpetuate vote bank: Yadav

New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) The rights of Muslim groups and individuals to create, manage and regulate Waqf will remain intact, Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav said on Monday, and alleged that the Congress is spreading rumours about the Waqf Amendment Ãct, 2025.

Addressing a press conference at Delhi BJP office, the Union minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with various reforms in the fields of social justice, economic growth, transparency and gender equality.

"The Waqf Amendment Ãct, 2025 recently passed by Parliament is an important milestone of this progressive journey," he asserted.

The Congress is spreading rumours that the rights of Muslims will end due to the Act, he alleged, adding that it was not for the first time that the Act was amended.

Some issues like transparency and management in Waqf affairs remained unaddressed in the last amendment in 2013, which have been taken care of now by the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, he said.

"The rights of the Muslim groups and individuals to create , manage and regulate Waqf will remain intact even after the latest amendment," Yadav said.

The latest amendments to the Waqf Act were discussed and consulted in detail when the government referred the subject to the Joint Parliamentary Committee to incorporate all views, he said.

The Congress leaders are trying to spread rumours about the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025 but they should be asked if the Waqf Act was so sacrosanct then why their party's governments amended it eight times since 1956, Yadav said.

Later, addressing a gathering of Muslim intellectuals at the Amebdkar International Centre, the senior BJP leader said that the Congress should be asked why they did not computerise the records of Waqf properties as recommended by the Rehman Committee in 2008, and why no judicial system was evolved to settle disputes.

"They should also be asked why they did not talk about rights of the Pasmanda people and Muslim women and the sin committed by the party to prevent the work for a progressive Muslim society to perpetuate it as a vote bank," Yadav said.

After the Waqf Amendment Act 2013, the Waqf properties doubled in number within a decade, he said.

This 100 per cent increase was beyond anyone's comprehension and gave rise to the talks of correct management of Waqf properties, he said.

"The Union home minister has said that Mutwalli (caretaker) of Waqf will only be a Muslim and they will manage it," he said, rejecting the rumours allegedly spread by the Congress.

The government is not interfering in internal matters or tinkering with the religious freedom granted by the Constitution, Yadav asserted.

The management of Waqf is a "tangled issue" as the encroachments are not being removed, low rents cannot be increased, and records cannot be cleared if someone's property is under dispute, he claimed.

The government has sought to come up with a better system of tribunal to settle the disputes related to Waqf properties, he said.

"But the Congress wants that the Waqf-related disputes keep going on and they can continue to get votes. If people succeeded in resolving their disputes, Congress' votes will dwindle," he said.

The only objective of the BJP government at the Centre is that the quantum of litigation is brought down, he added. PTI VIT VIT MNK MNK MNK

Source: PTI