As the Waqf Amendment Bill (2025) inches closer to reality, the so-called ‘secular’ political parties have risen in fierce opposition to the proposed legislation, branding it as an assault on Muslim rights, constitutional values and most amusingly as something that ‘hurts’ Muslim sentiments. In this vein, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu passed a resolution against the Waqf Bill in the state assembly on 27th March 2025.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin tabled the resolution and claimed that the Waqf Amendment Bill is “destroying” the rights of Muslims. CM Stalin alleged that since the proposed Waqf Amendment Bill is curbing the powers of the Waqf Board, the ‘sentiments’ of the Muslim community are hurt.
“The Union government is trying to amend the Waqf Bill, which will hinder the Waqf Board’s powers. This is hurting Muslim sentiments, and the Union Government does not bother about it. I am going to take a resolution in our state Assembly today. This Waqf Amendment Bill is destroying the rights of Muslims. The central government never thought about the welfare of the Muslims and their Rights. So we are in a place to pass a resolution against it,” Stalin said.
Amusingly, CM Stalin expressed apprehension that by inducting two non-Muslims on Waqf bodies, the Central government aims to usurp Waqf properties. However, it was his government that tried forcing secularism in Hindu temples and advocated for allowing non-Hindus in temples and for allowing Muslims to get jobs in Hindu temple-funded educational institutions.
“The amendment says that two non-Muslims should be a part of the Stated Waqf. Muslims fear that this is a way for the government to usurp Waqf Properties, and this is against freedom of religion,” CM Stalin said, adding that the Waqf Bill could be tabled anytime soon in the Parliament, and thus “we will have to show our opposition. This Amendment will curb the Waqf Board in the future; hence, I place the Resolution.”
The Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced last year and was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which held discussions with various stakeholders and received various suggestions. However, the Bill has been facing protests from political parties. A protest rally was organised by several Muslim organisations under the umbrella of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in Patna, Bihar, on 26th March. The protest was supported by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
From the Parliament to the streets, social media to leftist ‘media’, the opposition to the Waqf Amendment Bill and fear mongering around it has intensified. Threats of nationwide unrest and anarchy are being issued by Islamists and their political allies. Here’s a compilation of threats against the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Bill and the blatant politicisation of much-needed legislation.
AIMPLB calls Waqf Bill a ‘direct attack’ on Muslims, claims it is brought to usurp Waqf property
On 17th March, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) members staged a protest against the Waqf Amendment Bill at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The Board called the Bill a “direct attack on the Muslim community” and that it would pave the way to “usurp” Waqf property.
In a veiled threat to incite riots, AIMPLB general secretary Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi said, “We do not want the situation to worsen, but you (the government) want conflicts in every street and neighbourhood, especially over mosques and cemeteries. We want to see a developed India, but in these circumstances, our dream cannot come true.
Even before this, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board threatened that if the Waqf Amendment Bill gets passed, the whole country will be turned into Shaheen Bagh.
Trinamool Congress opposes Waqf Amendment Bill
Trinamool Congress (TMC), which literally thrives on Muslim appeasement, has unsurprisingly been opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill. In November 2024, the party staged a protest in Kolkata and called the Bill ‘conspiracy’ to seize Muslim properties and polarise the society. In its dissent note submitted to the Waqf Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), the TMC MPs Nadimul Haque and Kalyan Banerjee lamented that the Bill in question imposes restrictions on verbal declaration of Waqfs and that it attacks the Muslim faith.
Not to forget, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee had said last year that a piece of land would qualify as ‘Waqf property’ if Muslims offered Namaz on it. When you offer Namaz or whoever offers Namaz anywhere, then that will be treated as Waqf property. If 20, 15, or 5 people (referring to Muslims) regularly offer Namaz there, then, it will be considered as Waqf property,” he was heard saying during a public meeting in November 2024.
Probably, Banerjee should have revisited his own absurd yet sinister statement to understand why restricting verbal Waqf declaration was ineluctable.
The Trinamool Congress going berserk to defend the privileges enjoyed by Islamists through Waqf Boards is not surprising since the party’s supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has a penchant for fighting the Kafirs and mollycoddling Islamists even at the cost of suppressing Hindu rights.
AAP, which once stripped the Delhi Waqf Board of its powers, opposes the Waqf Bill
The Aam Aadmi Party, which back in 2015 took over the Delhi Waqf Board and stripped it of its powers, superseding the board for six months, has now come out against the Waqf Amendment Bill. The party leaders have claimed that the BJP-led Central government will forcibly pass the bill. Not to forget, AAP MLA and Delhi Wqf Board head Amanatullah Khan has been accused of misusing his powers for personal gains as well as not paying salaries to Imams.
From parliament, courts to streets, Samajwadi Party stands with Muslims against Waqf Bill
In March this year, Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav joined a protest against the Waqf Amendment Bill and declared that the Samajwadi Party wholeheartedly stands with Muslims even if the matter reaches Parliament, courts or streets. Yadav boasted that Waqf Boards are the third-largest landowners in the country, and yet he insinuated that the Muslim community is under attack. The very statement that the Samajwadi Party is ready to hit the streets against the Waqf Amendment Bill is no less than a call to be ready for violence under the garb of protests.
Earlier, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav had also declared that his party will vehemently oppose the Waqf Amendment Bill claiming that it is being brought to strip Muslims of their constitutional rights and usurp their properties even though none of the Bill’s provisions indicate that the government intends to usurp Waqf property, although it does there are provisions that would make it difficult for the Waqf Boards to randomly lay claim over properties, houses, lands or villages as it has been happening over the decades.
AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi threatens communal turbulence if Waqf Bill gets passed
All India Maljis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and its party supremo Asaduddin Owaisi have been opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill. Owaisi intermittently issues statements fearmongering about the Bill that, if passed, would allow the government to take over the Dargahs, mosques and other Islamic institutions presently under the Waqf Board’s control across the country.
In February this year, Owaisi threatened that if the Waqf Amendment Bill is brought in its current form, then it would stoke social instability in the country and Muslims would reject it.
“I am cautioning and warning this government – if you bring and make a Waqf law in the present form, which will be a violation of Article 25, 26 and 14, it will lead to social instability in this country. It has been rejected by the entire Muslim community. No Waqf property will be left, nothing will be left,” Owaisi said in the Lok Sabha.
The AIMIM leader has been appearing on television news channels and reiterating the same Waqf Amendment Bill is “unconstitutional” and “anti-Muslim” argument.
Predictably, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the offshoot of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League, has also opposed the Waqf Bill and its leaders are often seen in anti-Waqf Amendment Bill protests.
Similarly, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has also extended support to the AIMPLB against the Waqf Amendment Bill. The Jamiat leaders asserted that the Bill has forced them to come out on the streets.
Jamiat leader Arshad Madani said earlier this month, “These parties BJP’s allies in the NDA) value their political interests more than the secular Constitution of the country and the Muslims. Therefore, the parties that claim secularism are equally responsible for what is happening in the country today. By assisting openly in pushing the country toward destruction and ruin, their role is far more dangerous than that of the communal forces because they are acting like friends while stabbing people in the back,” he said.
Congress defending the mess it created to appease the Muslim votebank
The Congress Party has always been at the forefront of taking measures to legally handcuff Hindus and empower Muslims with unwarranted powers and privileges. From passing the Places of Worship Act in 1991, which was literally aimed at barring Hindus from reclaiming their destroyed or encroached temples, to the Waqf law, the Congress has a history of pandering to the Muslim community for electoral and ideological benefits.
The Act brought by the Congress party made the Waqf Board powerful beyond imagination. So much so that the Waqf Board arbitrarily makes ownership claims over the lands, properties, colleges, Hindu-majority villages and even temples of Hindus. Waqf Board managed to keep Hindus away from Ayodhya Ram Janmbhoomi for decades. Even in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple case, the Sunni Waqf Board out of nowhere claimed that the temple land was a Waqf property.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh deemed the Waqf Amendment Bill as ‘unconstitutional’ and said that this ‘deeply flawed’ Bill would disrupt the longstanding communal harmony.
Incidentally, Congress is not only supporting Muslims politically but also has been giving its expert inputs. Congress leader Rashid Alvi stated that instead of saying they will create ‘Shaheen Bagh’ like protests all over the country against the Waqf Amendment Bill, the Muslims should change their strategy and protest like the so-called ‘farmers’ of Punjab.
Rabid Hindu-hater Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan threatens Muslim mob violence against the Waqf Bill
In late 2024, Islamist cleric Tauqeer Raza Khan issued an open threat against the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Bill. “Kisi ke baap ki aukaat nahin ki who hamari sampati jabt kar sake (no one has the guts to take over our property). The day we come on the streets, your soul will tremble. Our youth are not cowards. We have kept our youth under control, but the day they go out of control, you won’t be able to stop them.”
All India Muslim Civil Rights chairman Mohammad Adeeb threatens Waqf JPC head Jagdambika Pal of ‘consequences’ if the Waqf Bill gets passed
In March 2025, Mohammad Adeeb, the chairman of All India Muslim Civil Rights, threatened BJP MP and the chairman of Waqf JPC Jagdamika Pal and said that if the said bill is passed, Muslims will show him the consequences.
“You inform Jagdambika Pal that he should pass the bill, and then see what happens to him. We’ll show them consequences,” Adeeb said.
Mohammed Adeeb, Chairman of All India Muslim Civil Rights- "You inform Jagdambika Pal (Chairman of JPC for Waqf Amendment Bill) that he should pass bill & then see what happens to him. We'll show them consequences"
— BhikuMhatre (@MumbaichaDon) March 17, 2025
What does he think of himself? Bharat isn't Pakistan. This isn't… pic.twitter.com/ebVRkLM9S8
Deliberate attempt at stoking anarchy based on perfunctory criticism: ‘Secular’ opposition playing with fire to keep its votebank content
The Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK and other ‘secular’ parties have repeatedly been calling the Waqf Amendment Bill ‘unconstitutional’, ‘anti-Muslim’ and somehow even ‘anti-democracy’; however, their criticism is devoid of any valid argument. The opposition knows that if passed, the Waqf Bill would expose the rampant corruption within the Waqf Board framework. The Sachar Committee 2006 report, which is no less than the Gospel of Muslim victimhood, exposes how despite Waqf Boards despite being one of the largest landowners and holding vast wealth, a large section of the Muslim community remained impoverished while the elite few enjoyed the Waqf wealth. The report said that Waqf Boards should be earning an annual revenue of Rs 12,000 crore, however, the official numbers as per the Ministry of Minority Affairs were a minuscule Rs 200 crore, giving a clear indication that corruption has been an inextricable part of the way Waqf Boards function. Probably, that’s why the Muslim bodies and political parties, especially Congress, do not want any progressive change in the way Waqf affairs are handled.
OpIndia has earlier reported numerous cases wherein Waqf Boards across the country arbitrarily claimed ownership of land plots, houses, villages, colleges, in addition, as seen in the case of Uttar Pradesh wherein 78% of land claimed by Waqf Board belongs to government, they have also encroached government properties without having any ownership records.
Are anti-Waqf Bill protests heading the anti-CAA protests way? Is the ‘Aar ya paar ki ladai’ 2.0 brewing?
The charged rhetoric, calls for nationwide protests and fearmongering reminisce the build-up before the anti-CAA protests, which culminated with the 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi riots. OpIndia earlier traced how violence was carefully incited and executed since December 2019, leading up to the Delhi anti-Hindu riots. This violence was carefully extrapolated by Congress, AAP, Islamists and assorted leftists to spark violence in India.
The pattern of anti-Waqf Bill protests reveals a recurring playbook which involved weaponizing constitutional critique and fear to incite Muslims to not only view the Waqf Amendment Bill as anti-Muslim but also aggressively oppose it by all means—protests, propaganda, courts and when called for—hit the streets.
Currently, the Waqf Amendment Bill’s much-needed administrative reforms are being cast as an attack on the religious freedom of Muslims, even though it focuses on streamlining the functioning of Waqf Boards and curbing corruption. In both cases, the 2019-2020 anti-CAA protests and the 2025 anti-Waqf Bill protests, disinformation, propaganda and fear are being exploited. Back then, Islamo-leftists used fear of detention centres and now that of property seizures and destruction of Muslim autonomy to intensify outrage.
Back then, despite the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) only fast-tracking the citizenship grant to persecuted Hindus and other non-Muslim communities in India’s Muslim-majority neighbouring countries, the ‘secular’ political parties and their extended ecosystem presented it as anti-Muslim. They further fuelled apprehensions that after CAA, NRC would be brought and it would essentially strip Muslims of their citizenship, although this claim was a complete lie.
Just as it is seen in the case of political opposition to the Waqf Bill, right after the Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the CAA in the Lok Sabha in December 2019, amending the 1955 Citizenship Act, the Congress party, CPI(M), TMC, AIMIM and Samajwadi Party among other Muslim-appeasing political parties outrightly denounced CAA as ‘discriminatory’ simply because the CAA excluded Muslims. Back then, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi tore a copy of the CAA Bill in Lok Sabha, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee vowed to resist CAA in the state, calling it an attack on secularism.
The opposition and its extended ecosystem presented it as somehow ‘anti-Muslim’ even though it was a matter of common sense that Muslims cannot be persecuted on the basis of religion in Islamic nations. The Islamo-leftist cabal linked CAA to NRC, fueling fears of a citizenship crisis among Indian Muslims.
In both cases, the anti-CAA protests and the ongoing anti-Waqf Bill agitation, sinister narratives devoid of any factual basis are being pushed to stoke communal tensions and incite Muslims by portraying legislative reforms as an existential threat to Muslim rights and identity.
During the opposition against the CAA back in late 2019, the initial form of protests was ‘peaceful’ and involved student-led marches and sit-ins like the infamous Shaheen Bagh echoing the same ‘democracy khatre mein hai’ ‘minority khatre mein hai’ rhetoric, however, in no time, Islamists elements showed their true colours with calls being made by Islamists like Sharjeel Imam to cut off the chicken neck and divide India as well as carry out ‘chakka jam’ to cause disruption. Meanwhile, part-time students-full-time Islamists like Umar Khalid, whom the Congress party wholeheartedly defends, held clandestine meetings with co-conspirators to mobilise rioters and unleash violence.
Who knows if similar conspiracies and meetings and preparations to unleash mob violence are at play this as well? The resemblance of the anti-Waqf Bill rhetoric, the threats and warnings with that seen during the anti-CAA protests indicates that attempts might be made to incite Muslim mob violence, while the leftist media will be ready with its ‘How to paint aggressors as victims 101’ propaganda toolkit.
It was on the 14th of December 2019, Sonia Gandhi – the interim President of Congress at the time – spoke about an “aar ya paar ki ladai” (do or die) in the context of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Speaking at a “Bharat Bachao Rally”, Sonia Gandhi from the Ramlila Maidan delivered a war cry. She said that the people should come out on the streets to agitate against the Modi government. She also said that the Congress and the people should be ready to make any sacrifice to “protect” India and that this is an ‘aar paar ki ladai’ (the final battle) and people should be willing for any ‘Qurbani’ (sacrifice). The provocative speech was later held responsible for the Delhi riots by some victims themselves.
Now, Muslim appeasing political leaders, AIMPLB and Islamists in general are calling on Muslims to join nationwide ‘protests’ against the Waqf Bill. As seen in the past, this peaceful-to-threatening arc of protests reflects a strategy of escalation, pressure tactic, a way of testing the government’s resolve. In 2020, it was Sonia Gandhi’s rhetoric that became a flashpoint, and the current veiled and open threats against the Waqf Amendment Bill suggest that the same pattern could be repeated if unchecked. While the Waqf reforms do not pose any danger to the country’s democracy, federal structure or communal harmony, the combustible mix of fear, political opportunism and intransigence and petulance of Islamists is what actually poses a threat to India’s democracy and socio-communal harmony.
If Islamists harbour ‘sentiments’ which give them a sense of religious entitlement and privileges other communities are deprived of, then such sentiments need to be crushed—legally
What festering sentiments lurk in the hearts of Islamists that get ‘hurt’ when the government dares to bring up legislation stripping them of their unwarranted, unearned and discriminatory privileges? If Islamists carry the ‘sentiment’ that somehow by the virtue of being Muslims they are entitled to assert their religious dominance over the others by arbitrarily claiming ownership of land patches, houses, colleges, offices, historical buildings, Hindu temples and entire villages, because a spineless and Muslim-pandering Congress regime bestow unchecked powers upon Waqf Board through the Waqf Act 1995 and its eventual doubling down in 2013, then it is high time that their malevolent ‘sentiments’ get a legal slap in the face.
However oppressive-repressive-suppressive the Islamo-leftists try it paint it, the Waqf Amendment Bill is the need of the hour, not only to end the Islamist menace of land grabbing but also to reaffirm that the right to equality is not one-sided. The ‘sentiments’ of Islamists, which essentially are their ambitions to turn India, a nation that owes its secular character to its Hindu majority’s inherent tolerant nature, into an Islamic Waqf and establish Islamic dominance, should not be heeded in the land of Hindus. Such sentiments should have long ago been buried where they arose from, however, it is never too late to do a course correction. The political mollycoddling has emboldened the Islamists way too much, and the government must dismantle their sandbox of entitlement.
If protecting the rights of non-Muslims from the arbitrary encroachment and repurposing of their hard-earned properties, streamlining the functioning of Waqf Boards, curbing its unchecked powers and bringing them under the purview of judicial scrutiny hurts Muslim sentiments, then their sentiments need to be hurt regularly so they can learn how to regulate their violent petulance.
Incidentally, the Palestinian Islamic terrorist group Hamas has in its infamous 1988 “Hamas Charter” declared Israel, the land of Jews, as Waqf property and vowed that their jihad against Israel would continue until the country is brought under Islamic autonomy—Shariah rule.
This jihadist mindset that any property or piece of land even as vast as a whole country can be randomly declared as Waqf property and it needs to be violently brought under Islamic control by fighting, killing and raping its original non-Muslim inhabitants, is not exclusive to Hamas, but is shared by their equally fanatic co-religionists in India. While Muslim appeasing politicians have already traded their spines for votes, if India has to retain its secular character, no unchecked powers should remain in the hands of Waqf Boards or any such religious body that has a proven record of systematic usurping of Hindu or other non-Muslim owned lands and properties. This is no fearmongering, the threat is real and it needs to be legally and peacefully resisted, for today non-Muslims are being made to cede their lands and properties to Waqf to preserve secularism, tomorrow they will be compelled to cede their dignity and Dharma.
Contrary to the assertions by the ‘secular’ political parties and Islamist propagandists, the Waqf Amendment Bill is not anti-Muslim; rather, it will be beneficial for the Muslim community. As the Delhi Hajj Committee Chief Kausar Jahan said, the Bill will bring accountability and transparency in the Waqf Boards and benefit Muslims, especially women. The only group of people the Waqf Amendment Bill threatens is the Muslim elite—the privileged minority—that has historically been exploiting Waqf as a means of retaining power, wealth and influence.
