All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi addresses the ‘Save Waqf’ Conference organised by All India Muslim Personal Law Board, at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, April 22, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The time-honed strategy of prayer, petition and protest continues to drive the countrywide protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, which reached the capital with a ‘Save Waqf’ conference at the Talkatora Stadium here on Tuesday (April 22, 2025). Attended by leaders of virtually all sections of the Muslim community along with opposition leaders from the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party, the conference decided to pursue a three-pronged strategy to “get the Waqf Act revoked in totality” which, they claimed, “violates Muslims’ fundamental rights”.
“We are against the Waqf [Amendment] Act completely, not just against a clause or two. While we request the government to take back the law, it is our democratic right to approach the Supreme Court against the Waqf [Amendment] Act, and to organize peaceful protests against the new law,” said S.Q.R. Ilyas, spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which organised the event.
Speaking at the conference, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party chief Asaduddin Owaisi contested the claim of some BJP leaders that Muslim countries do not have Waqf provisions. “Waqf is present in every [Muslim majority] country whether it has a democratic form of government or monarchy. The Prime Minister is on a two-day trip to Saudi Arabia. He can ask the Crown Prince there. Saudi Arabia has Waqf too,” Mr. Owaisi said.
He also questioned the Prime Minister’s claim that the new amendments have been welcomed by some sections of the Muslim community. “We have leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Barelvi sect leaders, Shia leaders, even those of the Bohra Jamaat who are supporting us. Some 18 to 19 crore Muslims are against this law. It is against the fundamental rights given by the Constitution. The Prime Minister claims 31% of Muslims are poor. They are poor because he hates Muslims. He will be friends with the Saudi prince but talk of recognizing Indian Muslims by their clothes.”
RJD leader Manoj Jha saw the Waqf amendments as “part of an attack on the Constitution”. “The Waqf Act is against the Constitution. They say, the Parliament is supreme. We say, the Constitution is supreme,” Mr. Jha said, adding, “People will try to mislead us. We should stay united.” Samajwadi Party leader Dhamendra Yadav assured the Muslim Personal Law Board of support. “Whether in courts, or in Parliament or on the road, our party stands with you,” Mr. Yadav said. His colleague, Muhibullah Nadwi, Rampur MP, who was part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, also attended the event.
Meanwhile, former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammed Adeeb said the Muslim community had been sleeping all these years “but the Waqf [Amendment] Act has woken up the community. It has found its voice”.
The conference was also attended by top leaders of two major Muslim bodies, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Jamiat ulama-i-Hind. “The fight to protect Waqf is a fight for our very existence. Protecting Waqf is our religious duty. It is encouraging that the entire Opposition is united in support for us. If we move ahead with solidarity no government can stop us. We are a living nation, and living nations do not fall into despair. If we truly want to protect the Constitution, then the entire Waqf Act-2025 should be abolished,” Mr Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat, said in a statement.
Published – April 23, 2025 03:00 am IST
