Why Waqf Act could be dangerous for Bharat’s future, and must go

One of political Islam’s most ruthlessly efficient skill sets is not just to convert people, but also to grab other’s land, property, places of worship, and even entire nations. The explosive showcase of this is Palestine, which seeks to deny Jews their homeland on a piece of land they have called their home for at least 3,500 years. Even the Quran mentions that the land of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. “And We said to the Children of Israel after Pharaoh, “Reside in the land, but when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass,1 We will bring you all together.” ~ Surah 17.104 Islamic scholars like Imam Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Khaleel Mohammed cite this and many other mentions in the Islamic holy book about Israelis and their homeland. But the Islamist regimes, leaders, ayatollahs, mullahs, militias and terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad would have nothing less than wiping Israel off the map. Because the lands once conquered and made empty infidels cannot be given back to them; not even an inch. Which is why peace accord after peace accord have failed in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the latest being one that was signed in 2005. But such land grab of non-Muslim land and property, and conflicts stemming out of it, is the norm rather than exception in the Islamic world. From Hagia Sophia to Ram Mandir, Al Aqsa to Gyanvapi, instances of usurpation of prominent churches and temples are numerous. But what is more dangerous and has the potential to create mini-Gazas within India is the land grab at an industrial scale which the Indian Constitution has enabled under the Waqf Act, 1995. It is perhaps the darkest piece of legislation of Independent India, more damaging in its scope than even the now-withdrawn Article 370 on Jammu and Kashmir and the Places of Worship Act, 1993. Here is a quick background. The Government of India gave the land of Muslims who went from India to Pakistan to the waqf boards under the Waqf Board Act of 1954. But in 1995, to compensate for the Babri Masjid demolition of 1991, the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government changed the Waqf Board Act to give waqf boards unlimited rights to acquire land. Currently, the Waqf Board claims more than 8.66 lakh properties across 8.02 lakh acres of land. That is about 30 Chandigarhs. In return, Pakistan Army, government and landed Muslims have taken away land and property of Hindus who came to India after Partition worth more than an estimated $8 million. That is more than Pakistan’s current foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan’s property laws like Shufa, under which neighbours will have to agree to the sale of house or land, make it even more difficult for non-Muslims to buy and sell property. Bangladesh, previously East Pakistan, took away enormous land and property of Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and others under the Vested Property Act which, like Pakistan, treated evacuee assets as enemy property. India, on the contrary, has gone to the other extreme by giving the Waqf Boards the authority and power of civil courts. Section 54 of the Waqf Act gives the Waqf power to declare anybody an encroacher. ‘Once Waqf, always Waqf’ is the board’s motto. “Waqf is the third largest landowner in India, after the Defence and the Railways, with much of the landholding, rather amusingly, pre-Independence — and endowment of the insidious give and take between the British and Muslims they desired to pacify,” writes Anand Ranganathan in his book, Hindus in Hindu Rashtra. “Seventy-seven per cent of Delhi is on Waqf land, including the Delhi High Court. Central Vista, which has recently been renovated…is on Waqf land. CGO Complex and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium are on Waqf land. Only three things are certain in an Indian’s life — death, taxes, and that, knowingly or unknowingly, he ends up walking every day on Waqf land.” As if all this was not enough, the outgoing Congress government in March 2014 just before the Lok Sabha elections, knowing defeat is inevitable, gifted 123 prime properties in the Capital to the Delhi Waqf Board by using the Waqf Act. “Due to this black law, thousands of acres of land of Hindus have been snatched away in the country so far. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board declared six villages of Tamil Nadu, including a 1,500-year-old Hindu temple as Waqf property,” writes Rajeev Gupta in The Times of India. In Kerala, outfits from Jamiat Ulema to Indian Union Muslim League have forced the CPM-led government to stall a law to bring Waqf Board appointments under the Public Service Commission. Only Muslims can run Waqf Boards, they argue. What could this reckless generosity and greed to appease Muslims for power lead Bharat? Forces from overseas and within India have been hard at work to communally divide, balkanise, and destroy this nation. They prey on the irascible and disgruntled sections of Muslim society and its power-hungry mullahs and politicians to create unrest. From anti-CAA protests to the ‘sar tann se juda’ mobs baying for BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s blood to attacking Hindu festivals, this nation has seen enough Islamist street violence lately. A terror organisation in sheep’s skin like the PFI may have been banned, but the underlying ideology and its impulses may create similar groups in the future. The Waqf Act gives them an option they may have conceived but not exercised yet — creating islands of violently hostile space within Bharat by using the Waqf Act to claim Islamic sanctity, then going for full-fledged secessionism. Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians are already losing their land and property in their own home, and not because of another Partition. We still have not mapped the scenarios if enemies of the nation decide to use the Waqf Act against it. But when they do, they would likely call it ‘resistance’, a term they use to camouflage Islamist imperialism in Gaza, West Bank, Kashmir and elsewhere. The Indian State has unwittingly created a very potent weapon which could be used against it. If there is one piece of legislation which must be urgently scrapped, it is the Waqf Act. Abhijit Majumdar is contributing editor, Firstpost. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.