JOIN USThe All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the apex body of Indian Muslims, is venting its ire against the Congress-led UPA government after it got no response to its demands for amendments in Right to Education (RTE) Act, Waqf Property and Direct Taxes Code Bills.
Though the board has been holding meetings across the country to mobilise public opinion since June 2011, the campaign has been intensified in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh where Muslims constitute 18 per cent of the state population.
“We had demanded certain amendments in the law governing Waqf properties and not to impose RTE on madrassas and minority institutions and changes in Direct Taxes Code. However, we got no response from the Central government except delay tactics. So, we were left with no option other than go to public,” AQR Ilyas, member of AIMPLB, told Deccan Herald.
According to Ilyas, the board had mentioned 20-30 amendments in Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill 2010 to make the functioning of Waqf properties more effective. Regarding the RTE Act 2010, Ilyas said it does not give recognition to religious schools including madrassas “despite the fact that the Indian Constitution gives the right to religious and linguistic minorities to establish their institutions and function as autonomous institutions.”
On the issue of Direct Taxes Code 2010 Ilyas said that “it makes mosques, temples, gurudwaras and other religious institutions taxable. We are against bringing any religious institution under the purview of income tax.”
Ilyas, who is also the co-convener of All India Babri Masjid Action Committee, further asserted that “all our demands are democratic; we are not encroaching on anyone else’s rights. Many of these demands are on the lines of recommendations made by the Sachar committee in its report. So, it is difficult to understand this attitude of the government.”
Zafaryab Jilani, legal adviser to AIMPLB, told Deccan Herald that the “Muslim Board has been putting these demands to the Union government for the last two years. After we saw that government is not serious to our demands the board decided to go among the people to develop public opinion.”
Along with these demands addressed to the Union government, the Muslim Board had made a demand to state government regarding the rights/share of Muslim women in agricultural land. To this also, the Mayawati government paid no heed.
The board has held meetings in Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand and other states in the past few months, but in November 2011 it decided to intensify its campaign in Uttar Pradesh.
Asked if the campaign run by Muslim body can have adverse effect for the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, where Muslim vote is the deciding factor on 110 of 403 Assembly constituencies in the state, Jilani said: “We aren’t running against or for a political party.
Our demands were addressed to governments, so if it goes against those political parties, who are in power, then let it go.”