Waqf Violence

So long as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains in power, communal harmony will remain elusive. Under one pretext or another they resort to communal violence to polarise the vote bank. Communal riot means an increase in the BJP’s votes. After UCC and CAA, it is now the turn of the amended Waqf Act or what is called ‘United Waqf Management Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995–UMMID in short, to stoke violence in different parts of the country. Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are prone to quick communal appeal, witnessing repeated outbreaks of communal violence over this issue or that in recent years. The situation is so supercharged in these states that a single spark is enough to start arson, burning, looting and killing. Protest against the amended Waqf Act in Bengal’s Murshidabad, otherwise a minority community-dominated district, didn’t take much time to get violent and mob violence took its toll. At least three persons were killed in Murshidabad district amid violent clashes linked to protests against the newly promulgated Waqf Amendment Act. The innocent died while some policemen were reportedly injured. And the BJP lost no time in asking the high court to intervene and deploy central paramilitary forces. They always want central intervention whenever there is any law and order problem, though law and order is a state subject. In truth, states are greater municipalities in relation to sharing power with the centre.

During partition, Murshidabad was retained in West Bengal to maintain continuity in landmass in exchange for Khulna, which was a Hindu majority at that time. If North 24 Parganas district is overpopulated today it is because of huge migration from Khulna and Jessore districts after partition. The curse of communal award refuses to die. And it is unlikely to go away because the root cause lies in economic deprivation and marginalisation of a large number of people of both communities.

BJP succeeded in getting the controversial bill passed in parliament because of its two regional partners in the NDA–Bihar’s JD (U) and Andhra’s TDP. JD (U) is said to have a substantial following among Muslim voters in Bihar, but the party, which is opportunist to the core, didn’t oppose the BJP’s dubious design in parliament or elsewhere. Had the regional parties believed in principles of pluralism, they could have easily stalled the passage of the bill in parliament. The ruling party in Bengal is saying they won’t implement the Act, but this vague assurance makes little sense because today or tomorrow the Centre will implement the Act, no matter what the so-called secular parties are saying-or not saying.

For one thing, after the Church, the Waqf board is perhaps the second or third largest landlord in India, and it is also a house of huge corruption, and it can’t be otherwise where there is scope to plunder real estate. The bone of contention in the amended bill was the ‘Waqf by user’ clause. They proposed its removal and finally removed it, making the waqf land open to all. The concept of ‘Waqf by user’ means properties being used as Waqf properties will remain Waqf even if the user doesn’t exist. So it is now easier to bulldoze mosques, madrasas, and business establishments occupied and built ‘illegally’ on Waqf land. Surprisingly, the Catholic Bishops supported the amendment, but at the time of the waqf debate in parliament, the RSS mouthpiece Organiser published an article about the property of the Catholic Church. Perhaps they have forgotten Pastor Martin Niemoller’s famous adage–‘First they came for the Jews….’.

Some people are suggesting joint opposition representation to the Centre seeking the repeal of the Act in question, but the opposition is too disunited to make any united move against the Centre. The ruling opposition party in Bengal is too clever by half as it keeps everybody in good humour by enacting shadow-boxing from time to time.

14-04-2025

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 45, May 4 - 10, 2025