Articles
Waqfs: Islamic Imperialisms Residues in Swatantra Bharat
Dt: 5/11/24
Waqfs: Islamic Imperialisms Residues in Swatantra Bharat
Dr T H Chowdary*
Waqfs are the properties dedicated by Muslims to Allah the God of Islam . The income that comes out of those properties is exclusively used for the welfare of Muslims . Bharat has the largest number of waqfs - 4.9 lakhs registered with more than 6 lakh acres with an annual income of Rs. 164 cr and valued at more than Rs. 1,50,000 cr .
2. The first waqf in ( undivided) India was created in 1192 AD by Md. Ghori. He conquered the area in North India around Delhi defeating and killing Prudhvi Raj Chauhan. On the way back to Afghanistan, two villages near Moolasthan, renamed as Multan by the Muslim conqueror were created as waqf by Md Ghori. Later on as more and more areas of Bharat fell under Islamic rule, the invader -conqueror- rulers and the Hindus converted as Muslims had been creating waqfs out of the lands falling under their rule and grabbed by Muslims . They are therefore Islamic imperialism residues in independent India . This fact is of utmost importance: These are properties of Hindus acquired by force by Muslims and dedicated to Allah . The income from them is used solely for the welfare of Muslims according to Sharia Law. Independent India had done away with Maharajas and Nawabs and taken over most of the properties and wealth . India has abolished Zamindars and had taken over their properties . India has taken over the Eenams that Bharatiya rulers had bestowed upon a class of intellectuals serving the nation.
3. They are administered by Mutawallies . The Islamists in India and politicians appeasing them for their votes in the name of secularism and minority welfare assert that since the waqfs are their God Allah’s property, the GOI cannot claim them, cannot acquire them and that they should be administered solely by Muslims and for their benefit only. This assertion cannot and should not be countenanced by the people of India , especially Hindus.
4. In the year 1750, Marthanda Verma, the ruler of Travancore state dedicated his entire State to Padmanabha, that is, Vishnu one of the Trinity that Hindus hold as divine ( Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara). In 1947 when India gained independence from the British rule, God Padmanabha’s property , the Travancore State was taken over and merged with the rest of Bharat. If a Hindu God’s property can be taken over by the State, why cannot the Muslims’ god Allah’s property be exempt from being taken over and merged with the rest of Bharat? The secular state cannot be partial and subservient to the god of a particular religion.
5. According to our Constitution, Bharat is a secular state. Government should not promote any religion and exclude other religions from promotion by the State. On 31-12-2013 the government of India by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed and controlled by Sonia Maino Gandhi at the head of National Advisory Council consisting of selected persons by her created the National Waqf Development Corporation (NWDC) with an initial capital of Rs. 375 cr , later raised to Rs.875 cr . Is it not preposterous and unabashedly communal that a secular government creates a corporation with government money for the exclusive benefit of Muslims and that too without any such corporation created for Hinds or Sikhs or Parsis or Jains or Buddhists. The corporation’s aim is to develop and raise funds for Muslims welfare. It is astounding why the NDA government since 2014 has not nationalized this corporation and used its funds and properties for the welfare of all citizens of this country irrespective of their religion.
6. Until the year 2006 the GOI had no Ministry of Minority Affairs . During the period 2004-14 the Sonia directed UPA was ruling India from Delhi . In 2006 the UPA government created the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The notorious Abdul Rahaman Antulay accused of immense corruption when he was the Chef Minister of Maharashtra was the first cabinet rank Minister heading this ministry . Since then that ministry had been headed only by Muslims until the NDA government first put Smriti Irani (Parsi) of BJP as the Ministry for Minority Affairs. She was succeeded by Kiren Rijiju, a Buddhist. During 7-8 June , 2012 the UPA government held a National Conference of the Ministers for Minority Welfare from all the States of India. There the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh listed twenty schemes and the huge amounts that were spent with hardly any concern for Christians or Jains or Buddhists or Sikhs. The National Commission for Minorities was set up in 1992 by the Congress government. It was also headed by Muslims until the NDA came and put a Parsi and a Sikh and a Buddhist as its head. These latter are real minorities each with less than 2% while the Muslims are variously mentioned as between 15-20% of India’s population.
7. The Waqf 1995 Act is notorious for placing the Waqf Boards in the States and Waqf Council at the all India level above the Constitution of India. Both are composed of and headed and staffed only by Muslims. Any Waqf Board can at any time may claim any property . It is for the afflicted person to prove that the property is his and not of waqf. This is clear violation of natural justice. The Waqf Board appoints a surveyor to go into the objections of the person whose property is claimed to be that of the waqf. The expenditure on the surveyor and the surveying is borne by the GOI or by the state and not by the Waqf Board itself ! This is one more tax on non-Muslims of India. The appeal of the affected person or body is to the Waqf Tribunal consisting only of Muslims . The verdict of the Waqf Tribunal cannot be challenged in any Court of the Republic of India. That means , Muslims through Waqf Boards and the Waqf Council are superior to the judicial system in Bharat. They are above law, a law unto themselves.
8. The members of the Waqf Boards and the Waqf Council and Tribunal are appointed by the secular government on the advice of these Boards themselves. There is no time limit for any Waqf Board to claim any property anywhere as its in the country as its own. The Waqf Board in Tamilnadu has claimed a 1500 old temple site and property as its own. There was no Islam 1500 years ago anywhere in the world. Recently two villages near Patna in Bihar had been claimed by the Waqf Borad of that state. Further, most outrageously the site on which the Allahabad High Court is located is recently claimed by the UP Waqf Board as its own. The poor Allahabad High Court has appealed to the Supreme Court to save it from being acquired by the Waqf Board ! In Telangana recently in Malkajgiri district two villages are claimed by the Waqf Board as its property . Whenever it wants any property the Waqf Broad can claim . The affected person is at the mercy of the Waqf Board and the Waqf Tribunal.
9. The properties already in its possession and for which it is and will be laying claim are all those of Hindus’ conquered and acquired over time by the Waqf Boards . These are the residues of Islamist imperialism. Independent and free Bharat has done away with imperial Portuguese possession of Goa by armed action on 17 Dec 1961. That necessitated an armed action just as the Nizam had to be brough to heel by military action, Sept 17, 1948. The Nizam’s rule was also an Islamist imperial rule . The French also had the territories in Chandan Nagar in West Bengal and Pondicherry in Tamilnadu. The French had sense; they voluntarily surrendered those territories in 1954 and 1963 respectively .
10. The amendments proposed now to the Waqf Act of 1995 should be passed only as an interim measure. In the light of the facts mentioned in this narrative government should proceed to nationalize all the Waqf properties soonest through another law. More than five hundred princely states including Travancore which was that of Lord Padmanabha had all been brought under the state of Bharat. So should these Waqf, the residues of Islamic imperialism. (1,393 words)
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