Showdown ahead: LS to take up Waqf Bill today, RS tomorrow

The Lok Sabha will take up the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill for discussion and passage today, Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown between a government determined to push it through and an Opposition united in condemning the proposed law as unconstitutional.

The Bill is likely to come up before the Rajya Sabha tomorrow, with the two Houses allocated eight hours each for debating the proposed law.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena and LJP (Ram Vilas) — the four biggest constituents of the NDA after the BJP — issued whips to their MPs asking them to support the government stand.

As reported earlier, the political heat is unlikely to have any bearing on the final outcome as the numbers heavily favour the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha, where the NDA holds 293 of the 542 seats, and the BJP has often been successful in pulling the support of independent members and parties.

Though NDA partners like the TDP, JD(U) and LJP (Ram Vilas) had expressed reservations over some aspects of the Bill, they have become more amenable after the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) formed to review the draft Bill adopted a few of their suggestions, official sources have said.

The Opposition INDIA bloc also presented a united front on Wednesday as its parties discussed their joint strategy to oppose the Bill at a meeting in Parliament House.

"All the Opposition parties are united and shall work together on the floor of the Parliament to defeat the unconstitutional and divisive agenda of the Modi Govt on the Waqf Amendment Bill," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X.

Sources said senior BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, are likely to participate in the discussion on the Bill in Parliament.

The BJP and the Congress are among the parties that have issued whips to their MPs, asking them to ensure their presence in the House and support their party's official stand.

While the numbers are more even in the Rajya Sabha (125 for the NDA versus 88 for the INDIA bloc with 23 unaligned members), it is still in favour of the BJP-led NDA. The Upper House is expected to take up the Bill for passage after it gets the nod of the Lok Sabha.

Some BJP allies, sources said, continue to push for more changes in the Bill. A senior member of a BJP ally expressed hope that the saffron party would accommodate their views, stressing that some of their concerns were addressed by the JPC which scrutinised the bill. However, he emphasised that the NDA will remain united on the issue.

While introducing the Bill last year, the government had referred it to a joint committee of the two Houses. After the report was submitted by the panel, the Union cabinet had approved certain changes to the original Bill based on the committee's recommendation.

Rijiju said immediately after Question Hour which concludes at 12 noon, he will move the Bill for consideration and passage. Hitting out at the Opposition, he claimed that some parties are trying to create excuses to "run away" from discussion.

The INDIA bloc parties discussed their strategy at a meeting attended by a number of senior leaders including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, NCP's Supriya Sule, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee and AAP's Sanjay Singh.

DMK's T.R. Balu, Tiruchi Siva and Kanimozhi, RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha, CPI-M's John Brittas, SPI's Sandosh Kumar P., RSP's N.K. Premchandran and MDMK leader Vaiko were also part of the meeting.

Opposition parties are strongly resisting the Bill, slamming it as unconstitutional and against the interests of the Muslim community. Several leading Muslim organisations have been rallying support against the Bill.

"We have to protect the constitutional values and this Bill is actually a targeted legislation. It is also unconstitutional. We, the INDIA parties, who believe in the Constitution are going to vote against the Bill," said Venugopal. "This is a clear-cut violation of the Constitution. People who believe in the Constitution will definitely oppose it."

The government has said the Bill seeks to improve the management and administration of waqf (charitable Islamic) properties in India by bringing transparency and efficiency in their management.

However, among the key features of the proposed amended Bill is the changing of the composition of the Central Waqf Council and waqf boards to include non-Muslim members, and the removal of section 40 of the Waqf Act (1995/2013), which gives the waqf board the authority to determine the legality/authenticity of waqf properties; in effect, this amendment will make it easier to illegally occupy waqf properties.

With PTI inputs