NDA allies JD(U), TDP, Shiv Sena and the LJP backed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill that was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday, saying it was aimed at bringing transparency in the functioning of the Waqf Board and was not an attempt to interfere with the running of mosques.The TDP and the LJP also supported the Bill being sent to a parliamentary committee for further examination.
Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and proposed sending it to a joint parliamentary committee after the opposition parties objected to its provisions.
Speaking in Lok Sabha as the government moved for introducing the Bill, Janata Dal (United) leader and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ asserted that the Bill was not anti-Muslim.
Defending the Bill, he said, “Several members are making it sound as if the amendment in the Waqf Board law is anti-Muslim. How is it anti-Muslim? Here example of Ayodhya is being given… Can you not differentiate between a temple and an institution?
“This is not an attempt to interfere with mosques. This law is for the institution, to make it transparent… How was the Waqf Board formed?” he said, and himself replied that it was through a law.
The minister said if any institution established through law becomes autocratic, the government has the right to bring a law to ensure transparency, he said.
Slamming the opposition parties, he said, “There is no communal divide. They are spreading rumours.”