AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday alleged that the central government led by Narendra Modi wants to take away the autonomy of the waqf board. His comment came amid several media reports creating buzz around a bill that the Centre plans to introduce to curb the "unfettered" powers of waqf boards.
Calling it an 'Hindutva Agenda', Owasisi expressed that 'BJP has been against waqf boards and waqf properties from the beginning' and it has made attempts to finish waqf properties and waqf board.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad on Sunday, Owaisi said, "Modi governments wants to take away the autonomy of waqf board. It wants to interfere ... how to run waqf property. That itself is against freedeom of religion."
He warned that changing the setup and rules of waqf boards would lead to "administrative chaos" and take away their independence.
The proposed amendments indicate that government officials would conduct a survey of a disputed property instead of the matter being adjudicated in a court. If the survey is conducted by a BJP government, its outcome would be to say the property is not a waqf property, Owaisi alleged.
There are many dargahs and mosques in the country which the BJP-RSS claim are not dargahs and mosques, Owaisi said. "All in all, if the media reports are true, Modi government wants to take away waqf board's properties from Muslims," he said.
The allies of BJP have to think whether they want the waqf properties of Muslims to be taken away, he cautioned.
When Parliament is in session, the government is informing media on the matter and not informing Parliament, which is against parliamentary supremacy, he pointed out.
(With PTI inputs)
