Waqf protests erupt in Kolkata, Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad/Lucknow/Kolkata: A day after the Waqf (Amendment) Bill cleared the Parliament hurdle, protests erupted in Ahmedabad and Kolkata while in Uttar Pradesh the government said it would begin seizing properties that were ‘illegally’ claimed by the Waqf board.

The passage of the contentious Bill reverberated in Bihar and Kerala as well.

In Bihar, Muslim leaders in the ruling JD(U) expressed their “utter disappointment” over the stand taken by Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar. And in Kerala, around 50 people from the Munambam coastal village near Kochi, who have fighting against the Waqf board’s claims on their land, joined the BJP.

In Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, there were protests outside the iconic Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, largely led by leaders of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

The protesters gathered outside the iconic 16th century mosque, known for its intricate jaalis, holding placards and posters criticising the amendment to Waqf laws as well as the Gujarat government-appointed committee for the implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

Shoab Rizwi, social media in charge of AIMIM, said that the protests had been planned two days ago. The police detained about 50 of them including Sabir Kabliwala, the Gujarat president of AIMIM.

In West Bengal capital Kolkata, Muslims staged a protest at Park Circus Crossing and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Bill.

“This bill is a ploy by the BJP to divide the country. They have passed the bill in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha due to their majority. We oppose this authoritarian approach. This is not just an attempt to seize Muslim properties but also malign us,” one of the protesters said.

The demonstrations threw traffic out of gear in the area, as there was a large congregation of people on the streets.

UP set to crack down

In Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government said that it would seize properties ‘illegally’ declared as Waqf in the state.

According to the sources, the state government has directed the district magistrates to launch a campaign in their respective districts to identify such properties and initiate the process to seize them.

Sources said that only 2,963 Waqf properties existed in the records of the state revenue department, though the number of unrecorded properties was more than 1.30 lakh.

“There is a possibility that a large number of properties have been illegally declared as Waqf properties,’’ said an official here on Friday.

Sources said that the lands belonging to ‘gram samaj’(village community), ponds and others have been declared as Waqf properties, though only donated lands could be declared as such.

The state revenue department was conducting a survey in the state to ascertain how many such properties were declared as Waqf properties.

Sources said that the maximum number of Waqf properties was in Barabanki, Sitapur, Bareilly, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad and Rampur districts.

JD(U) loses office-bearers

In Bihar, JD(U) national general secretary and former Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi and JD(U) MLC Ghulam Gaus minced no words in opposing the party’s stand, while some of the Muslim office-bearers of the JD (U) went on to resign from the primary membership of the party. They accused the Chief Minister of “shattering the faith Muslims reposed in him”.

Relief in Munambam 

In a shot in the arm for the BJP, around 50 persons from the Christian-dominated Munambam village joined the party following the passage of the Waqf Bill. The laws are expected to bring relief for around 610 families in the region after the Waqf board claimed their land. 

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and other NDA leaders of Kerala  received a rousing reception in Munambam on Friday.

(With inputs from Abhay Kumar from Patna, Arjun Raghunath, Thiruvananthapuram and PTI)