The enactment of the Waqf Amendment Bill of 2025 has rattled the Congress and its ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), given that it has the potential to nullify the illegal claim made by the Kerala Waqf Board on the lands of 600 Christian families in Munambam.
IUML leader Panakkad Syed Sadikali Shihab Thangal has vowed to challenge the Bill through legal means. The radical Islamic party had taken particular offence to the repeated references to the Munambam dispute amid the Waqf Amendment Bill controversy.
It claimed that that the Munambam issue is somehow different and not related to the Waqf Amendment Bill while also alleging that the dispute will henceforth become more complex.
The matter was raised in the Parliament by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday (3rd April) during a debate on Waqf Amendment Bill of 2025. Minister Suresh Gopai assured that the bill would help the Christian residents of Munamabam.
After witnessing open support for the Waqf Amendment Bill by Christian bodies, IUML leader M.K. Muneer remarked that Christians and Muslims should hold talks to sort out the land dispute.
IUML supports the illegal claims of Kerala Waqf Board on lands owned by the 600 Chritistian families in Munabam but has ‘promised’ not to allow eviciton of residents. Its ally Congress was seen monkey-balancing over the issue.
Congress is in a fix
Opposed to the Waqf Amendment Bill to appease the Muslims, the grand-old party said that Munambam ‘is not Waqf land’ so as to not irk the Christian community.
In the hopes of targeting the BJP, Kerala Congress leader V D Satheesan claimed, “So, can all those who are claiming that the Bill will help the people of Munambam please explain how it will benefit the affected people there?”
It also attacked the CPIM-led-State government in Kerala for delaying resolution of the Munamabam land dispute. Christians constitute 18.4% of Kerala’s population. They have traditionally voted for the Congress party.
However, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has recently urged the members of Parliament from Kerala to vote in favour of the Bill when it is tabled for discussion. It sought the amendment of the “unconstitutional and unjust sections” of the Waqf Act.
Through the press release, the KCBC President, Cardinal Clemis Katholika Bava, Vice-President Bishop Polly Kannookkatan and Secretary General Bishop Alex Vadakkumthala urged the Kerala MPs to support the amendments to “objectionable” parts of the Waqf Act.
Soon after, the the Catholics Bishops Conference of India made a similar appeal. “Certain provisions in the existing Waqf laws are inconsistent with the Indian Constitution and against the secular democratic values of the country,” it added.
BJP has been quick to make grounds and gain the confidence of the Syro-Malabar, Latin, and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches on the Munambam land dispute. Christian votes helped BJP send its first MP from Kerala to the Parliament.
The support is likely to increase in the upcoming State Assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held next year. It can make deep cuts in the Congress vote bank in Kerala.
The Munambam land dispute
The Munambam waqf land dispute has led to protests and political debates in Kerala. Around 600 Christian and Hindu families are opposing the Kerala State Waqf Board’s claim over 404 acres of land in the Munambam suburb of the Ernakulam district in Kerala. The Waqf Board has asserted that the said land was granted as waqf property in 1950. On the other hand, the residents have argued that they legally purchased the land decades ago. The controversy has gained a lot of traction owing to the bypolls in the state, with political parties using the matter for their own agendas.
The Munambam waqf land dispute revolves around 404 acres of land in the coastal region of Munambam in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. There are 600 families living on the land, constituted primarily of Christians from the Latin Catholic community and Hindus from backward sections. These families have lived on this land for decades. The Kerala State Waqf Board has claimed ownership of the land, citing a waqf deed registered in 1950. The residents, however, have insisted that they own the legal rights to the land as they purchased it decades ago from Farook College, which was once entrusted with its management.
In the 1960s, Farook College started the process to evict residents who were occupying the land, leading to a legal battle. These residents, who lived on the land pockets for generations, did not have the official documentation to prove their ownership. Eventually, the college management decided to have an out-of-court settlement with the residents and sold land pockets to them at the market price.
The sale, however, became another headache, as, according to the documents, the management of the college did not disclose that the land they were selling was waqf property. Instead, they cited a “gift deed” that was registered in 1950 as the basis of the ownership. As the information of the land being waqf property was omitted from the sale information, it became the ground for future disputes. Later, the Kerala Waqf Board argued that the sale of waqf land without the consent of the Waqf Board was illegal under the Waqf Act.
For years, the issue did not become a matter of discussion until 2009, when the Nissar Commission, appointed by the CPI(M)-led government, announced that Munambam land was indeed waqf property. The commission found that the sale of the land initiated by Farook College was unauthorised and recommended that the land sold by the college should be recovered.
In 2019, a decade after the findings were reported by the Nissar Commission, the Kerala Waqf Board decided to act on it and suo motu declared the land as waqf property under Sections 40 and 41 of the Waqf Act, 1995. The Board then instructed the Revenue Department to cease accepting land taxes from the occupants of the land, effectively undermining the residents’ claims of ownership of the land.
In 2022, the Kerala state government overruled the Waqf Board’s directive. However, the Board challenged the decision in the Kerala High Court. The court issued a stay on the state government’s action, leaving the residents in a legal limbo. As of now, several appeals are pending in front of the court challenging claims made by the residents as well as the Waqf Board.
