Waqf Bill introduced to divert attention of majority community: Ashok Gehlot

Jaipur, April 3 (IANS) Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has strongly criticised the passing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the Lower House of Parliament, saying that the Bill has been introduced to divert the attention of the majority community from real issues.

“It seems that the Indian government repeatedly makes laws targeting the minority community to divert attention from important issues like inflation, unemployment, the ongoing fall in the stock market, devaluation of the rupee etc,” he wrote on ‘X’.

The former Chief Minister added that earlier, this was also seen during CAA as the law was made in 2020, but its rules were made in 2024.

“To take political advantage of this, the issue was raised again and again, and tension was created in the whole country. The law made regarding Wakf is also a part of this,” he said.

Gehlot added that there was no need for any new law regarding Waqf, but this law has been made to divert the attention of the majority community from important issues and to create fear in the minority community and to create tension between the two communities.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill is facing a crucial Rajya Sabha test on Thursday, a day after sailing through the Lok Sabha following a marathon 12-hour debate.

Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju tabled the Bill and emphasised why it was significant in bringing a turnaround in the lives of poor Muslim families.

The Upper House witnessed repeated rounds of verbal squabbles as the treasury and opposition benches locked horns over multiple issues, including Leader of Opposition in the House Mallikarjun Kharge’s Waqf landholding claims and ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans raised after Congress MP's election win in Karnataka.

The chaos also saw interventions from Home Minister Amit Shah, who accused the opposition of spreading misinformation over the Waqf Bill and also rebutted charges that the BJP was trying to polarise the electorate with amendments in the legislation.

--IANS

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