New Delhi, Apr 3: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that vote bank is being created by intimidating minorities and confusion being spread in the country in the name of the Wakf bill.
Making an intervention in Lok Sabha during a debate on the Waqf amendment bill, he also said that non-Muslims in Waqf council and boards are meant purely for ensuring administration of properties in accordance with stated aims.
In a hard-hitting speech, Shah said if there had not been an amendment in the Wakf Act in 2013, there would have been no need to bring this legislation.
“Elections were due in 2014 and in 2013, the extreme Wakf law was made overnight for the purpose of appeasement. As a result, 123 properties in Delhi’s Lutyens zone were handed over to the Wakf just 25 days before the elections,” he said.
“The Narendra Modi government runs on a very clear principle that we will not bring any law for vote bank because law is for justice and welfare of people,” he said, adding, “Everyone has the right to follow their religion, but conversion cannot be done for greed, temptation and fear.”
He stressed that it has become a fashion to create fear among the people of the minority community.
“It is the resolve of the Modi government that no citizen of this country, irrespective of his religion, will be harmed,” Shah said.
He said vote bank is being created by intimidating minorities and confusion is being spread in the country by creating an atmosphere of fear among the minorities.
There was no provision earlier to include any non-Muslim person among those who run religious institutions, nor is the NDA government going to do so, he said.
“To those who give big speeches that the right to equality has ended or there will be discrimination between two religions or the religious rights of Muslims will be interfered with, I want to tell them that nothing like this is going to happen,” the senior BJP leader underlined.
“The government does not want to interfere in the religious activities of Muslim brothers and the trusts associated with their donations, i.e. Waqf. Mutawali, Waqif, Waqf will all be Muslims, but it will definitely have to be seen whether the property of Waqf is being maintained properly or not,” he said.
Shah also said that no non-Islamic member will get a place in the Waqf Board’s work related to religious donations.
“Work of non-Muslim members, appointed in the Waqf Board or its premises, will not be related to religious activities,” her asserted.
The home minister underlined that Waqf is a type of charitable institution where a person donates his property for social, religious or public welfare purposes, without the right to take it back.
Shah said the word ‘donation’ has special importance because donation can be done only of that thing which is our own property. No one can donate government property, he asserted.
Referring to one of the members mentioning that the law may not be acceptable for some people, he said the Parliament is going to enact the Wakf bill and it will be the law of the land and everyone will have to accept it.
The home minister said this bill will provide protection to the lands and no one’s land will become Waqf merely by declaration.
“The government will provide protection to the land of the Archaeological Department and the lands of the tribal community. The personal property of common citizens will also be protected,” he said.
He said the charity commissioner can be a person of any religion and he will ensure that the Wakf board is run according to the charity law, it is not a religious work, but an administrative work.
The job of the Waqf Board should be to catch and throw out those who sell Waqf properties, he said.
The opposition wants the collusion that was prevalent during their rule to continue, but this will not happen now, Shah said.
According to him, from 1913 to 2013, the total land of the Waqf Board was 18 lakh acres, in which from 2013 to 2025, a new 21 lakh acres of land was added.
There were 20,000 properties given on lease, but according to the records, these properties became zero in 2025, these properties were sold, he said.
The right to declare Waqf property has been abolished and now this will have to be certified by the district collector, Shah said. (PTI)
