Govt proposes to send Waqf (Amendment) Bill to joint parliamentary panel.

Govt proposes to send Waqf (Amendment) Bill to joint parliamentary panel. Minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday  proposed sending the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, to a joint parliamentary committee following intense criticism from opposition parties.The BJP-led NDA government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.Several opposition members expressed concerns about the bill’s potential impact on the federal structure and its perceived encroachment on religious autonomy.While Congress MP KC Venugopal described it as an “attack on the federal system,” AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that the bill violates Articles 14, 15, and 25 of the Constitution. NCP (SCP) MP Supriya Sule called for the bill to be either withdrawn or sent to a standing committee for further review. Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP NK Premachandran warned that the bill could be struck down if subjected to judicial scrutiny. Defending the bill in Lok Sabha, Rijiju said that it has been renamed the “United Waqf Act Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act,” or “UMEED” for short. He argued that the bill does not infringe upon religious freedoms, as enshrined in Articles 25 to 30 of the Indian Constitution, saying the Supreme Court has ruled that Waqf Boards do not fall under the purview of these articles, which safeguard religious practices. “I want to inform the House, provisions in the Bill… from Article 25 to 30, there is no hindrance being caused to the freedom of any religious body, neither any provision of the Constitution has been violated.” Rijiju said in the lower house. “According to a Supreme Court ruling, Waqf Board doesn’t fall within the purview of Article 25 and Article 26 of the Constitution of India. Leave snatching away someone’s rights, those who have been deprived of their rights, this Bill has been brought to give them those rights,” he added.