“No Mosques Will Be Touched”: BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad On Waqf Bill

The Waqf (Modification) Invoice, which has been cleared by each the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha after heated, marathon debates, will profit girls from the Muslim neighborhood and guarantee transparency, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad has mentioned. 

In an unique dialog with NDTV on Friday, the previous legislation minister insisted that no mosque, place of worship or ‘kabrastan’ (graveyard) goes to be touched. 

“The problem could be very easy and straight. Whether or not the intention of the ‘Waqif’ who created the Waqf for noble functions is being executed correctly by the ‘Muttawali’, who’s the supervisor, or not. A Waqf will not be a non secular physique in any respect. It’s a authorized or a statutory physique… The ‘Muttawali’ is only a superintendent or a supervisor. He doesn’t have any rights over the property, as a result of as soon as a Waqf has been created, the property vests in Allah, peace be on him,” Mr Prasad mentioned, including that the Invoice will empower Muslim girls and assist widows and the marginalised from the neighborhood.  

The senior BJP chief identified that areas close to the Dak Bungalow locality in Patna  – town he’s from – have quite a lot of Waqf land however five-star resorts and showrooms have come up there. He additionally mentioned India has the very best variety of Waqf properties on the earth and requested what number of hospitals, universities and coaching centres have been constructed there. 

“Is the supervisor utilizing the property the best way the one who devoted it supposed or is he stuffing his pockets? That’s the query. And a drama is being created over this… Let me inform you, folks from my state and all the nation are going to understand (this Invoice). Individuals have been dismayed to be taught that a lot property is being misused,” he mentioned. 

Transparency

Mr Prasad asserted that the invoice will assist convey transparency by making Waqf boards accountable. 

“All the factor is being made accountable, every little thing will probably be out there on-line, digitisation will occur, you possibly can see which property is the place, who’s the Muttawali, what use is the actual property being put to by way of the intention of the ‘Waqif (the individual dedicating the property). So, all these items are very clear now,” he mentioned. 

Backlash anticipated?

To a query on whether or not the federal government is fearing some form of backlash from the Muslim neighborhood and the potential influence the passage of the Invoice would have on Nitish Kumar, who enjoys assist amongst them, forward of the Bihar Meeting polls later this yr, Mr Prasad mentioned the queries round Mr Kumar have been requested since he allied with the BJP in 1996.

Pointing to the protests in opposition to the Citizenship (Modification) Act, the BJP chief mentioned the citizenship of not even one Muslim has been taken away. 

“However the bigger concern is we have been two in 1984, simply two (the BJP had two seats) within the 1984 Lok Sabha. The place are we right this moment? Ruling the nation, in additional than 21 states of the nation. Nitish Kumar ji, our very proud colleague and good friend, has been a chief minister for 19 years,” he mentioned.

The previous legislation minister additionally insisted that India’s polity has undergone a ‘tectonic metamorphosis’.

“…whereas the character of the argument is similar. Secular, communal, appeasement. The world has modified. India has modified. And I might say the younger folks of the minority neighborhood and the considering neighborhood have additionally modified… And a few individuals are attempting to frustrate that change by the identical logic of the Nineties and Nineteen Eighties,” he mentioned.