New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday slammed the BJP over the proposed Waqf Bill, alleging the ruling party was bringing it to divert attention from real issues like “falling rupee”, inflation and unemployment.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in a statement said that the BJP had promised in its 2009 manifesto to implement the Rahman Committee recommendations and had even supported the 2013 amendment Bill.
He questioned why the government was introducing a new Bill when it had already informed the Supreme Court that 99 per cent of Waqf properties were digitised.
“The Bill is an an attempt to spread hatred and divert attention from pressing issues like unemployment, inflation, and the falling rupee,” Singh charged.
The BJP in its 2009 manifesto said that it would implement the recommendations of the Rahman Committee report and consult Muslim leaders before removal of illegal encroachments on Waqf properties, he said.
The BJP government in an affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2020 admitted that 99 per cent of Waqf properties were registered and digitised, the AAP leader claimed. This means that the government has already obtained all the necessary documents related to these properties, he said.
“If the government has already completed this process, why is it now introducing this new Bill?” Singh questioned.
The Lok Sabha will take up the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill for discussion and passage on Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown between the ruling BJP at the Centre determined to push it through and the
opposition united in condemning the proposed law as “unconstitutional”.
The Rajya Sabha is expected to take it up on Thursday, with the two Houses allocated eight hours each for debating the proposed law.