West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeals for calm, saying Waqf Amendment Act will not be ‘applicable’ in state – home to 25 million Muslims.Indian authorities have deployed troops to crack down on deadly protests in the eastern state of West Bengal over a recently passed controversial bill that critics say would dilute the rights of Muslims to manage religious endowments (waqf) worth more than $14bn.
Protests over the federal Waqf amendment bill in West Bengal’s Muslim-majority Murshidabad district escalated on Friday and Saturday, resulting in three deaths and the arrests of more than 150 people, according to The Times of India newspaper.
The daily said on Sunday that the Calcutta High Court had ordered the “immediate” deployment of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) to the area. Karni Singh, inspector general of the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier division, said forces were sent to “help” local police, not for “independent action”.
The bill, which amended a 1995 law on governing waqf or Muslim properties donated for religious or charitable purposes, was passed earlier this month after heated debates in both houses of Parliament. Advertisement
Waqf refers to personal property – movable or immovable – that is permanently donated by Muslims for religious or charitable purposes. However, the inclusion of non-Muslims in managing the waqf properties has caused concern among Muslims, who say the federal government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is discriminating against them, as other religious groups are still allowed to manage faith-based institutions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP claims the amendments are aimed at bringing transparency and fighting corruption and mismanagement in waqf governance.
But Muslims …
