‘Waqf Act historic step for Muslims, will prevent graft'
Chandigarh: The Chandigarh unit of BJP Monday held a briefing over the Waqf Amendment Bill Act, 2025. On this occasion,
Mufti Shamoon Qasmi
, chairman of the Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Board, strongly supported the Waqf Amendment Act 2025. He termed the Act as a historic step for the Muslim community and strongly criticised the opposition to it by the Congress and some Muslim organisations.
Mufti Qasmi said, "The Waqf Amendment Act 2025 will ensure transparency and accountability in the management of Waqf properties, so that these properties can be used for the welfare of the Muslim community. This Act will not only prevent corruption in the Waqf Board but will also ensure that
Waqf properties
are effectively used for the educational, social, and economic development of the Muslim community."
Accusing the Congress of misusing waqf properties, Mufti Qasmi said, "For decades, the
Congress Party
considered Muslims as their vote bank and used Waqf properties for their political interests. They were misleading the Muslim community in the name of appeasement politics. This Act will put an end to that appeasement politics and lead the Muslim community towards real development."
He also challenged the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Muslim organisations, saying, "Those who are opposing the Waqf Amendment Act today are not actually protecting the interests of the Muslim community but are furthering the agenda of the Congress. These organisations are misleading people and helping the Congress in making Muslims a vote bank. I want to ask these organisations what they did for the Muslim community in the last 70 years?"
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
25 minutes ago
- India Today
Setback for India: Jairam Ramesh after US general praises Pakistan's terror fight
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned the Indian government on Wednesday over recent remarks by a top United States military official praising Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts. Taking to X, Ramesh wrote, 'Recently, the head of the US Central Command called Pakistan a 'great partner in the counter-terrorism campaign'. What will our Prime Minister and his ovation say to this? Is this not a diplomatic setback for India?'advertisementHis statement followed US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, where the outgoing commander described Pakistan as a 'phenomenal partner' in counter-terrorism comments came at a time when India had been actively campaigning to expose Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism, particularly after the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April. During the hearing, General Kurilla urged Washington not to adopt a zero-sum approach in South Asia, stating that the US must maintain strategic relations with both India and Pakistan."We need to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can't have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India,' he said. 'We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has.'advertisementKurilla's remarks came even as India stepped up diplomatic efforts to hold Pakistan accountable for its alleged role in the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people on April 22. In response, India carried out precision air strikes on terror infrastructure across the border in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May military escalation ended on May 10 after the Directors General of Military Operations from both countries reached an officials, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, had reiterated that India would not accept any equivalence between victims of terrorism and the perpetrators. New Delhi also expressed concern over multiple international responses that appeared to hyphenate India and Pakistan during the brief military Kurilla, who is expected to retire later this summer, also spoke about Pakistan's role in combatting the Islamic State's regional affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, also known as IS-KP. He acknowledged efforts by the Pakistani military and army chief General Asim Munir in countering the terror Watch
Time of India
27 minutes ago
- Time of India
West Bengal makes minor tweaks to OBC list struck down by HC
KOLKATA: Bengal's new OBC list, tabled by state govt in the assembly on Tuesday, has minor changes compared to the previous list. While the earlier list, struck down by the Calcutta High Court, had 113 OBC subgroups with 77 Muslim and 36 others, the new OBC list has 140 subgroups, 80 of them Muslim. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge by Bengal govt against the HC scrapping of the earlier list, impacting around 5 lakh OBC certificates. The state had told the SC that it would complete its fresh OBC survey by the end of June. The survey tabled on Tuesday also indicated that state is hearing representations from 50 more OBC groups. The percentage of Muslims in the new OBC list is 57.1. While there are 73.4% Muslims in the OBC 'A' category (in a total of 49 subgroups, 36 are Muslims and 13 non-Muslims), OBC 'B' has 48.3% Muslims (there are 91 subgroups, of which 44 are Muslims, and 47 are non-Muslims). The HC ruling had reduced 17% OBC reservations in the state to 7%. The report tabled on Tuesday allows Bengal govt to restore OBC reservation to 17%, allocating 7% for OBC 'A' and 10% for OBC 'B'. This is set to increase slightly with 50 additional groups being evaluated. The legal deadlock on the OBC issue had an overriding impact in Bengal, from pausing admissions to schools, colleges and universities to state govt recruitments. CM Mamata Banerjee, speaking in the assembly on Tuesday, had said that the issuance of OBC certificates for college admissions and govt jobs would resume immediately. "Many recruitment boards kept the process on hold due to the legal confusion. That will now be resolved," Banerjee had said, adding, "Backwardness, not religion, was the sole criterion in the fresh OBC survey." On Tuesday, Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari had alleged that the OBC list was flawed and stemmed from "appeasement politics". He said that there were only 11 Muslim groups out of 66 OBC groups before 2010. Adhikari went on to claim that OBC in Bengal meant 'one-sided beneficiary'. Questioning Adhikari's facts, Trinamool Congress had said in a statement on Tuesday: "Suvendu Adhikari, we all know that 'divide and rule' is the official policy of BJP, and your only agenda for the 2026 elections is to pit Hindus against Muslims. But CM Mamata Banerjee has made it crystal clear that backwardness, not religion, is the sole criterion for OBC status. The new list was prepared with that principle in mind. So stop misleading the people with your lies."
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
Caste survey decision by Cong brass, not Karnataka government, says CM Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah sought to clarify Wednesday that it was the Congress brass's decision and not his govt's to undertake a fresh caste survey, suggesting unease at the prospect of his core vote bank of minorities, backward classes and Dalits not taking kindly to re-enumeration after leaked data from the 2015 exercise showed a massive jump in their numbers. Siddaramaiah, under the pump for the June 4 stampede in Bengaluru in which 11 cricket fans died, told reporters at Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapur district that there were "some complaints" about the Kantharaj Commission's caste survey data. Won't reject 2015 census report: Siddaramaiah There were claims that the data was outdated, so some suggested a fresh enumeration within a relatively shorter timeline. We won't reject the (2015) report. We have already accepted it in principle," Siddaramaiah said. On whether he was disappointed with Congress's decision to go for fresh survey, he said, "We will act per the high command's directive. It's not our decision."Siddaramaiah and his deputy minister D K Shivakumar had been summoned to Delhi Tuesday for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, purportedly to explain state govt's failure to stem the outrage over the stampede sparked by an allegedly mismanaged victory parade for IPL-winning cricket franchise RCB. While Siddaramaiah appeared wary of owning the decision to enumerate caste demography afresh, Shivakumar batted on the front foot. He questioned why BJP was criticising the decision to conduct a new survey after refusing to accept data from previous one. "Why such opposition when we are trying to address concerns? We are not rejecting the Kantharaj Commission's report. We are only trying to correct the shortcomings of the earlier survey," DKS said.
