MIM to continue fight against Waqf Amendment Act till it is withdrawn: Owaisi
Owaisi said the struggle against the Waqf Act was inspired by farmers who fought against the four controversial agriculture laws, and forced Modi to withdraw them
HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday declared that there was no going back in the battle against the Waqf Amendment Act and the movement would not stop until the BJP government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi took back the legislation.
Addressing a massive public meeting under the aegis of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) in Hyderabad, Owaisi said the struggle against the Waqf Act was inspired by farmers who fought against the four controversial agriculture laws, and forced Modi to withdraw them.
“This movement will not stop until this black Waqf law is withdrawn,” Owaisi said, adding that the BJP government was “threatening courts by spreading rumours that a religious war would break out if the Waqf law was stopped.”
“Nothing of that sort will happen,” Owaisi declared. “Muslims are a law-abiding people. The Muslims have proved this during the Babri Masjid dispute in the courts. We will abide by the law of the land. But we will not stop until the Waqf Act is taken back.”
The AIMIM leader, who spoke after AIMPLB president Maulana Khaled Saifullah Rehmani’s address, said “Modi is trying to create a rift in the Muslim community, trying to sow discord between Shia, Sunni, and Dawoodi Bohra sects. The Dawoodi Bohras have realised how Modi is trying to lure them. We are fighting for everyone. There are no political interests in this battle.”
Owaisi called on all Muslims to take part in the protest programmes planned by the AIMPLB.
Owaisi said Modi has been going after the Muslim community ever since he came to power. First it was the law against triple talaq with which he tried to misguide women. Then came the Citizenship Amendment Act, and the UAPA, and each of these were designed to create rifts within the Muslim community and society.
“The UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) was brought in to harass innocent people. Now, he is coming with Uniform Civil Code and wants to take away Sharia which was even protected by Dr B.R. Ambedkar in the Constitution in the form of Muslim personal laws,” Owaisi said.
Asking the gathering to turn on the lights on their mobile phones, to which they immediately responded, Owaisi said he hoped that these lights will open the eyes of the BJP. “The beauty of Bharat,” he said, “is not Narendra Modi but the beauty of Bharat is its unity, brotherhood. Our fight is against political forces that want to decimate the Muslim community, the forces which have forgotten that it was Muslims who fought against the British for 200 years,” Owaisi said.
AIMPLB president Maulana Rehmani called the Waqf Act “a dangerous law” that paved the way for illegal occupation of Waqf properties, including those occupied by top businessmen who built their mansions and hotels on the land.
“If this Act is not opposed, Waqf will face serious losses. The Macca Masjid is 300 years old, and under the new laws, the government can declare that it is not a Waqf property, can say that no prayers can be held there, and that it is just a tourist spot. Such are the provisions in this law. This is how dangerous the law is,” Rehmani said.
The makers of the Waqf Act were ignoring history, of many Hindu rulers giving land for building mosques and other facilities, just as many Muslim rulers gave land for Hindu organisations and for temples as was with the case of the Nizam of Hyderabad, he said.
Rehmani reiterated that AIMPLB represented all Muslims and not just one sect or the other. “The powers that be are trying to spread confusion in the community and are hoping that they can break the AIMPLB. To weaken the Board, fake campaigns are being run. Our strength is our faith, belief and unity,” he said.
Those who addressed the meeting included DMK MP M. Mohammed Abdulla; former YSRC MP Mohammed Hafeez Khan; BRS leader Mohammed Mahmood Ali; Telangana Waqf Board member Syed Nisar Hussain Hyder Agha; AIMPLB executive member Maulana Mateenuddin Quadri, and religious scholars from different sects of Islam.