Amit Shah clarified that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 is not against any religion. He accused the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading false rumors to divide people for political gains.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has strongly defended the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, saying that some political parties are spreading false information about it just to gain votes. He made these remarks in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Shah explained that the need for this new Waqf Bill arose because of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2013, which was passed when the Congress-led UPA was in power. He criticized the opposition parties for not taking strong action on the matter earlier.
Amit Shah referred to an old speech by RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav from 2013, in which Lalu had supported a stricter Waqf law. Back then, Lalu had said:
“We welcome the amendment bill presented by the government. I support the statements made by (BJP’s) Shahnawaz Hussain and others. Most of the land has been grabbed, be it government-owned or otherwise. People in the Waqf Board have sold all of the prime land. In Patna, apartments have been constructed on Dak Bungalow property. There has been a lot of loot like this.”
Lalu Prasad had also demanded stronger laws to punish those responsible for these irregularities. He had said:
“We support the amendments, but we want you (the government) to bring in a strict law in the future and put such people behind bars.”
Amit Shah pointed towards the opposition benches with a smile and said:
“Lalu Prasad’s wishes were not fulfilled by them, but Narendra Modi is doing it. Lalu ji had asked for a stricter law.”
Amit Shah clarified that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 is not against any religion. He accused the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading false rumors to divide people for political gains.
Amit Shah strongly rejected claims that including non-Muslims in the Waqf Board means interference in Waqf matters. He stated that these allegations are baseless and misleading. The main purpose of the bill, he explained, is to ensure transparency and prevent the mismanagement of Waqf properties.
He clarified, “All the arguments about the inclusion of non-Muslims are about interference in the Waqf. First of all, no non-Muslim would come into the Waqf. Understand this clearly… There is no such provision to include any non-Muslim among those who manage the religious institutions; we do not want to do this.”
Shah accused the opposition of spreading misconceptions to create fear among minorities for political gain, saying, “This misconception is being spread to instill fear among minorities for their vote bank.“
He further explained that non-Muslim members in the board will have a limited role, focusing only on administrative matters, not religious affairs.
“Their (non-Muslim members) job is not to interfere in the religious matters. Their job is to monitor if the administration of the Waqf law and funds given for donations is running smoothly or not.”
Amit Shah highlighted the bill’s aim to ensure that Waqf properties and donations are used correctly.
“The (non-Muslim) members will monitor whether the administration is running as per law or not, and whether the donations are being used for what they were intended (for Islam religion, for development of poor etc) or not.”
He assured the Muslim community that the law does not allow non-Muslims to interfere in Waqf matters.
“Through this House, I would like to tell Muslims of the country that not even one non-Muslim would come into your Waqf. This Act has no such provision.”
The focus of the Waqf Board and Waqf Council, according to him, will be to prevent illegal activities related to Waqf properties.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also spoke in favor of the new Waqf Bill. He criticized the Congress for making “questionable” changes to Waqf laws when it was in power. He even claimed that if the UPA government had continued, they would have handed over Parliament itself to the Waqf Board.
Rijiju made a strong remark:
“If we had not introduced this amendment today, even the building we are sitting in could have been claimed as Waqf property. If Prime Minister Modi’s government did not come to power, several other properties would also have been de-notified.”
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi Criticizes the Bill
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi opposed the Waqf Bill and accused the BJP government of playing religion-based politics. He criticized a provision in the bill that requires Muslims to be practicing their faith for at least five years before they can donate property to the Waqf Board.
He attacked the BJP with a ‘4D’ formula, saying:
“This bill is an attack on the basic structure of our Constitution, an attack on our federal structure, and has four objectives – to dilute the Constitution, defame minority communities, divide Indian society, and disenfranchise minorities.”
The debate over the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 has led to a heated exchange between the BJP and the opposition. While the government claims that the bill will prevent illegal land grabbing and bring transparency, the Congress and other opposition parties argue that it is targeting minorities and violating constitutional rights.
