Date: 29/09/2022
The curious case of the Waqf Board
September 25, 2022, 5:12 PM IST Ashali Varma in No Free Lunch, India, TOI
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Ashali Varma
Ashali Varma
Freelance journalist Ashali Varma has authored the biography of her father late Lt. Gen. PS Bhagat — ‘The Victoria Cross: A Love Story’. She was executive producer with ... MORE
For several years I have heard various reporters and lawyers talking about the fact that after the Defence and Railways, which belong to the central government, the next largest property owners in India are the Waqf Board. No one really believed it till suddenly it hit the news recently. The fact is that on paper at least it is reported that Waqf properties in India is around 800,000 acres. Since only some of this is itemised or proven perhaps it is a guess but the fact of the matter is that no Indian really knows the extent of the Waqf property which is not at all grabbed by the Muslims (at least not most of it) but was given in largesse by the various Congress governments.
It started in 1923, when the Sunnis and Shias in the Indian sub continent wanted their properties clearly defined and the British brought in the Waqf Act. It pertains to gifted, or charitable institutions run by Muslims including mosques and land that goes with it as well as other lands left to the Waqf Board by their forefathers.
It became a big issue in Tamil Nadu recently where a Hindu farmer went to sell some land for his daughter’s wedding and was told by the local registrar’s office that the land was not his to sell and he would need permission from the Waqf Board. The land was with his family for years along with the lands belonging to several villages in the area amounting to some 400 acres, all of which had belonged to the Hindus for generations.
The farmer was at a loss. According to the Waqf Board law, he would now have to go before a Muslim tribunal where someone well versed in Islam would judge if the land belonged to him or to the Allah. The Waqf board law says all lands that belonged to it were in Allah’s name.
In desperation he went to the media and then the extent of the problem was taken up by the media and the lawyers. The head of the Waqf board, a kindly gentleman, was interviewed on TV and he confirmed that the Hindu villages, including a 1500-year-old Chola temple, did indeed belong to the Waqf Board and were given to them by their forefathers. But the paperwork would have to be dug out as it was with the Waqf Board.
By this time almost every major TV channel and newspapers were inquiring into how the Waqf board had acquired the Hindu villages and a temple and so much land. The story caught on and several states started delving into the Waqf board properties in their area.
Some news reports showed how various Congress governments throughout the years in power had allowed properties to be either acquired by the Waqf Board or looked the other way. In the case of Tamil Nadu, it was the DMK government according to reports. Perhaps, it was a form of appeasement or for vote bank politics or both.
Some Muslims who ran the Waqf Board said that the property came to them in 1947, when India was partitioned and the Muslims who left for Pakistan gifted their land to the Waqf. But It is known that during partition the Hindu lands in Pakistan were given to the muslim refugees who went from India and one heard it was a quid pro quo. But it seems it did not happen quite in the same way for the Hindus. The Enemy Land Act, in fact, did not all go to the Hindu refugees and as late as 1984, Rajiv Gandhi gave the lands in parts of Haryana and Punjab to the Waqf board. Some refugees were given this Waqf board land on rent but as years passed, the rent increased and now it seems they are also demanding the land to be given to them as it was supposed to be.
It is not only Hindus who are upset with the way the Waqf Board is being administered. In some cases, as in UP, burial land was sold by the Waqf board for a mall to local politicians and obviously the Muslims were upset. It did not benefit the community at all, only the board members, all well placed Muslims, got the proceeds of the sale.
Recently, it was reported that a Muslim gentlemen Hafiz Qureshi had lodged a complaint against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan over misuse of Waqf board property. Qureshi had alleged with the authorities that the MLA had his own people in the board and instead of five members voting on decisions he had only two members vote for decisions made to sell or lease Asf properties.
According to media reports, just two weeks before the 2014 general elections, the Congress govt gave 123 VVIP lands in Lutyens Delhi and other expensive sites to the Waqf Board. It was allegedly done without much deliberation.
It does seem that the Waqf got special privileges as no other minority group such as the Sikhs, the Jains, the Buddhist or the Parsees got any land for their places of worship from the state. In fact, Hindu temples and its land still belong to the state.
And at 200 million plus, one can’t exactly say the Muslims who did not go to Pakistan are a minority and need special privileges.
Courts move slowly but I do hope the six villages and the 400 acres of land with the Chola Temple will be given back to the people who have lived there for centuries. And in all fairness, the land that was for Hindu refugees from Pakistan and arbitrarily given to the Waqf Board should go to them. After all, they left their lands and properties in Pakistan and fled to India and any enemy property – as it was called – belonging to Muslims who had left for Pakistan must be given to the Hindus who fled to India. It is only just but with the Waqf Board having its own tribunal and its own laws, every case will have to be fought in court and there are thousands.
The best way would be for the Central government to rescind part of the law where there is a clear conflict of interest and where the burden of proof is with the deserving.
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