Barely a day after Parliament cleared the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill last Friday following fierce, marathon debates in both the Houses, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Bill. Several Muslim organisations, Opposition leaders and parties have moved the Supreme Court challenging the law, calling it “unconstitutional, arbitrary and discriminatory”, with leading Muslim organisations also declaring a nationwide movement against its “oppressive amendments”. The coverage of the Urdu press continued to be dominated by the Waqf legislation, with the dailies tracking its every development over the week. ROZNAMA RASHTRIYA SAHARA Referring to protests being held by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and other Muslims organisations against the amended Waqf law, the multi-edition Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, in its April 5 editorial headlined 'Aeeni saneha, jamhuri zakhm (Constitutional mishap, democratic wound)', writes that this countrywide stir signals that “when a community’s religious, cultural and constitutional rights are subverted, it would have the will to rise in protest rather than just being a mute spectator”. “These street protests in different parts of the country, where protesters waved the national flags and showed placards reading ‘Reject Waqf Amendment Bill’, are not only an indication of anger against a legislative measure, but also a community’s expression of despair — and its pushback against an assault on democracy,” it states. The Bill which has a direct bearing on Muslim endowment assets was pushed by the Narendra Modi government through Parliament “without any consideration of the community’s constitutional rights or sentiments,” the editorial charges. While the Bill was debated in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha till the wee hours, its passage was a foregone conclusion, it says. “Law-making seems to have turned into political muscle-flexing where the protection of minority rights has no meaning.” Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju argued that the Bill was brought to reform Waqf governance, but its provisions, such as inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf Boards or the condition that only a person practising Islam for at least five years could establish a Waqf, tell another story, the daily states. “It is also unfortunate that parties like the JD(U), TDP, RLD and other NDA allies which were considered friendly to minorities chose to back the Bill, which undermines the Constitution's secular structure,” it says, adding that the passage of the legislation seemed to be another step “in the direction of turning Muslims into second-class citizens of the country”. The editorial claims that the institutions of other minorities like Christians and Sikhs may be targeted next. “Riding high on power, the BJP may be forgetting that public mandate could also go against it. The party perhaps believes that the Waqf law would pave the way for its proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) move. The point remains that when people are pushed to the wall, it leads to a resistance movement,” it says. “The amended Waqf law is a blot on the Constitution. It not only poses a threat to the Waqf assets, but also targets the Muslim identity and rights. Such concerns were reflected by the intensity of the Muslim protests that erupted from Kolkata to Chennai to Ahmedabad.” SIASAT Flagging the critical role played by the BJP’s NDA allies in the enactment of the Waqf legislation, the Hyderabad-based Siasat, in its April 4 leader, says that TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar chose power and political interests over extending support to Muslim rights, thereby “betraying” the community. “If Nitish and Naidu had not backed the Waqf Bill, it would not have got Parliament’s nod, given the competitive margins with which it was passed. On the other hand, the Opposition INDIA bloc staunchly opposed the Bill unitedly, proving their commitment to protecting minority rights,” the editorial says. “The Bill's passage virtually became a question of the Modi government’s survival. If the TDP and the JD(U) had blocked the Bill, it would have raised questions about the Modi government’s majority numbers. The BJP’s key allies seem to have leveraged the Bill to strike deals to their advantage.” The daily writes that now "the writing on the wall for the Muslim community is clear”. “Earlier, fringe, right-wing elements used to go after the minorities, but now the government itself brought a legislation considered detrimental to the interest of a minority group. And parties like the TDP and the JD(U), which keep showcasing their secular credentials, joined in it equally,” it states. The edit says the Muslim community needs to do soul-searching and rise to protect their rights themselves within the legal and constitutional framework, adding that the community would have to brace for a long struggle. It gives the example of the three farm laws passed by the Centre, and how the protesting farmers forced their repeal following a long agitation. ROZNAMA RASHTRIYA SAHARA Commenting on PM Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters, his first since assuming the country’s top post in 2014, and his meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, in its April 2 editorial, says that it was not a courtesy visit but a meeting marked with deep political significance. It says that while the RSS and the BJP have always had a close relationship marked with shared political and ideological objectives, their ties had got strained in the run-up to the 2024 general elections. BJP president J P Nadda had then said (in an interview with The Indian Express) that the BJP had grown from the time it needed the RSS and was now capable of running its own affairs, the editorial notes. The frosty RSS-BJP relations took their toll in the Lok Sabha polls when the BJP’s tally dipped below the majority mark even though it managed to form government for the third consecutive time with the support of its NDA allies, the editorial notes. “It is in this background that Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters assumes significance. It was a strategic move to resolve any differences between the BJP and its ideological parent and to strengthen their bonds,” the edit says, adding that it was also meant to firm up their strategies for the looming electoral challenges such as the Bihar polls. PM Modi also visited Deekshabhoomi, where B R Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism along with his many followers, to pay homage to the Dalit icon and the Constitution’s architect, the edit notes. “This was a balancing act. While the BJP has always used the Ambedkar plank, there has been ideological tension between the Sangh Parivar and Ambedkar’s legacy,” it says. The daily points out that Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters also came at a time when the country’s politics has been dominated by Hindutva nationalism, where “boundaries between religion, politics and state machinery have been blurred”. “The visit deepened the lingering question whether Indian democracy is getting a new shape amid the rising dominance of the Sangh Parivar's ideology,” it says.
