The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in a representation to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, alleged that thousands of properties in the Scheduled Areas across the country have been usurped in the name of mosques, churches, burial grounds, mazars, etc. The right-wing organisation demanded that such land be returned to tribal communities.
The demand comes at a time when Assembly polls in Jharkhand are round the corner and the Bharatiya Janata Party is pressing the issue of demographic change in the State due to Bangladeshi infiltration to garner tribal votes. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey last week said that as soon as the BJP would get majority in Jharkhand, the land taken from tribals by Muslims would be returned.
In a letter written to chairperson of Waqf JPC, VHP leader Alok Kumar, Justice (retired) V.S. Kokje, and Justice (retired) Vijaya Lakshmi said many properties in the Scheduled Areas were notified as waqf properties.
“This violates the protection given to Scheduled Tribes in respect of the lands comprised in Scheduled Areas. Such transfer is unlawful and in breach of the constitutional protections to the tribes,” the letter reads.
Scheduled Areas are regions with a large tribal population and are governed under a special mechanism in which the Central government plays a direct role in protecting the cultural and economic interests of the people in living in these areas.
The VHP leader in the letter added that all properties declared as waqf within the Scheduled or the tribal areas must be reviewed by District Collectors.
“All such properties which are being used by the non-tribals or for purposes viz. mosques/churches, burial grounds, mazars, maqhbaras and dargahs etc, in violation of the prohibition of transfer of lands under Schedule V of the Constitution must be restored to the tribals,” the letter reads.
The VHP said it must be mandatory to refer the matter to the Collector for examination in cases where a land is proposed to be declared as waqf property by a waqf board in a Scheduled Area.
“The decision of the Collector shall be final,” the VHP said.
The Central government had tabled the Waqf amendment Bill in Parliament on July 28. The Bill proposes inclusion of non-Muslims and Muslim women on waqf boards; strips the board of powers to declare a property as waqf. Amid strong objections from the Opposition parties, the Bill was referred to a JPC headed by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal on August 8. The JPC had asked for people’s submission on the issue last month.
Published - October 22, 2024 09:05 pm IST
