Telugu Desham Party (TDP) national spokesperson Prem Kumar Jain on Tuesday said that the party is in support of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and assured that Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is in favour of Muslims.
This comes as the centre is likely to table the Waqf (Amendment) Bill before Budget session come to a close on April 4.
Speaking about the bill, Prem Kumar Jain said, “The whole Muslim community is waiting for the Waqf Amendment Bill to be tabled…Our party will support it. Chandrababu Naidu has already mentioned that we will work in interests of the Muslim community. Tomorrow, the bill will be tabled, only then we will make any comments on it. I assure you that Chandrababu Naidu is in the favour of Muslims.”
On the other hand, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said that the party will oppose the bill. He also added that their objections about the bill was not accepted by the JPC.
“We (Congress) have a very clear stand on Waqf. When the JPC was formed, we had presented all our objections but they were not accepted there. When this (Waqf Amendment Bill) comes to the House, we will oppose it in the same way as we did in the JPC.” Pramod Tiwari said.
BJP’s national spokesperson CR Kesavan lashed out at the Congress party accusing it of spreading “poisonous propaganda” against the bill.
“Will Priyanka Gandhi Vadra counsel the Communal Congress Party to stop its poisonous propaganda against this bill and make the Communal Congress Party support this transformative bill which will help the poorer sections of the Muslim community. This is in the context of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and the Catholic Bishops Council of India supporting this Amendment Bill. In fact, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has said that every MP from Kerala should support this Bill. So it is high time that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is an MP from Kerala, makes her stand clear on this,” Kesavan said.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, also called the ‘Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development (UMEED) Bill’, aims to address key challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties.
The Waqf Act of 1995, enacted to regulate Waqf properties, has long been criticised for issues such as mismanagement, corruption, and encroachments.