Students of Kolkata's Aliah University take out protest rally against Waqf Act

Kolkata: Students of Aliah University in Kolkata on Friday took out a rally protesting the Waqf (Amendment) Act and demanding that the legislation be withdrawn. The participants in the rally also blocked the seven-point crossing in the Park Circus area here for some time after they went past the barricades put up by the police. The Aliah University students, who marched from their campus nearby, raised slogans demanding that the law be withdrawn. "The BJP is talking of 'sabka sath, sabka vikas', but one community is being discriminated against," one of the students participating in the rally alleged. The BJP has said that it will launch a fortnight-long public awareness campaign, aimed especially at Muslims, from April 20 to publicise the benefits of the Waqf (Amendment) Act and counter the opposition's criticism of it.

BJP office-bearers from across the country attended a workshop in New Delhi on Thursday where party president J P Nadda accused the opposition parties of misleading Muslims about the provisions of the amended law as part of its vote-bank politics. Nadda said the new law, which came into effect on April 8, would help utilise Waqf properties for the welfare of poor Muslims and women, adding it would free these assets from the control of a small but influential section of people and open them for the minority community's overall benefit.