The Indian Parliament handed a controversial invoice on Friday that will increase authorities oversight of properties held by Muslim trusts, regardless of vocal protests that the spiritual minority was being singled out for interference.
The invoice would enable the appointment of non-Muslims to panels administering the trusts, referred to as Waqf boards, and empower state officers to be adjudicators of disputes.
The Waqfs — whose authorized basis in India is over 100 years outdated — are one of many largest landowners within the nation, managing greater than 800,000 properties overlaying almost one million acres, based on authorities figures. A 2006 report commissioned by the federal government estimated the worth of the properties — which embody mosques, spiritual seminaries, graveyards and different land usually donated by people — at over $14 billion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling celebration has mentioned the modifications in how the trusts are run was wanted to enhance effectivity and accountability, and forestall abuse.
Forward of introducing the invoice in Parliament for a vote, Kiren Rijiju, India’s minister for parliamentary and minority affairs, mentioned the laws was not an assault on Muslim rights however a essential reform to guard Waqf property from misuse.
“That is about transparency, not interference,” Mr. Rijiju mentioned.
In contrast to throughout Mr. Modi’s earlier time period, when he used an absolute majority to push laws by way of Parliament with usually heavy-handed swiftness, the Waqf invoice underwent months of deliberation. It additionally noticed two days of passionate however cordial debate that went properly previous midnight every day earlier than the vote.
The sparring — more and more uncommon within the legislature, the place fewer payments have come below deliberation and scrutiny lately — was an indication that Mr. Modi, who misplaced his majority in final summer season’s election, now wants the assistance of allied events to cross laws. Nevertheless it additionally confirmed that his well-entrenched Bharatiya Janata Social gathering was capable of get its manner even with decreased energy, and that his parliamentary allies solely acted as a slight moderating issue.
Faizan Mustafa, the vice chancellor of Chankaya Nationwide Legislation College, mentioned that whereas the Parliament has the facility to enact laws on spiritual and charitable endowments, these legal guidelines might nonetheless face additional exams within the courts.
“If any provision of the Waqf invoice is in contravention of elementary rights, it might be challenged and probably struck down within the courts,” he mentioned. “There could be an argument that Muslim endowments are handled in a different way from Hindu endowments legal guidelines in some locations,” he added.
Many critics of the brand new Waqf invoice agree that there was a necessity to enhance the administration of the trusts. However additionally they say they’re involved that the invoice is the ruling Hindu nationalist celebration’s newest try to focus on the nation’s largest spiritual minority.
Whereas the structure protects the rights of spiritual teams to handle their very own affairs, some observers say this invoice offers a brand new authorized foundation for the authorities to focus on the Muslim group.
In states the place Mr. Modi’s B.J.P. is in energy, officers have been bulldozing Muslim properties after alleging encroachment, usually ignoring court docket orders on due course of, the critics say.
Proper-wing teams have laid declare to a number of mosques, arguing in court docket that they had been as soon as the positioning of Hindu worship — regardless of Indian legal guidelines that stop altering the standing of locations of worship. Vigilantes have additionally attacked Muslim shrines, taking hammers to graves.
Imran Pratapgarhi, a Muslim member of Parliament from the opposition Indian Nationwide Congress, mentioned he didn’t consider B.J.P. assertions that the invoice was meant to profit the Muslim group.
“I’m requesting the federal government: At the very least don’t snatch away our locations of worship, don’t run bulldozers over our properties, and allow us to be at peace in our graves,” Mr. Pratapgarhi mentioned.
