{"id":479904,"date":"2025-04-05T01:42:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.com\/?p=479904"},"modified":"2025-04-05T01:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:12:20","slug":"parliament-passes-waqf-amendment-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/parliament-passes-waqf-amendment-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament passes Waqf (Amendment) Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Budget session ends with over 100%productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parliament\u2019s nod to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill rendering it the government\u2019s most consequential piece of legislation in its third term, and the political heat it generated inside and outside the legislature defined the second half of the Budget session which ended on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Punches and counterpunches between the ruling BJP-led NDA and opposition INDIA bloc, which showed signs of common purpose as the session drew to a close, ran through the sitting that saw more than 100 per cent productivity in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Debates scored over disruption in this session during which 16 bills were approved by the two Houses and the President\u2019s rule in Manipur received Parliament\u2019s nod during post-mid night discussions in both chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters that history was created and old records broken in Rajya Sabha when it sat without a break for 17:02 hrs from 11 AM on Thursday to the early hours on Friday to debate and pass the Waqf bill besides endorsing President\u2019s rule in Manipur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


After both the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the opposition INDIA bloc voted along the party lines on the bill, Rijiju said a similar pattern in polling was witnessed in Rajya Sabha save for \u201cconscience\u201d voting by some members, which boosted the strength of the treasury benches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


However, if the BJD\u2019s decision to allow its members to vote according to their conscience was a shot in the arm for the BJP, Tamil Nadu\u2019s AIADMK went with the INDIA bloc in opposing the bill at a time when the regional party is in talks with the ruling party for an alliance in Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Rijiju claimed that the bill would have got many more votes if opposition parties had not issued whips and allowed their members to vote according to their choice as many such MPs expressed \u201csupport\u201d to him privately. In Rajya Sabha, the Bill got 128 votes in favour and 95 against, while the score was 288-232 in its favour in the Lok Sabha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


With the Waqf (Amendment) Bill\u2019s passage, the ruling BJP sent out the message that the setback following failure to win a majority in the national polls last year is history and that its ideological vigour and political determination remain undiminished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cong to challenge Waqf bill in SC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Congress on Friday said it would \u201cvery soon\u201d challenge in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill that was passed in Parliament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition party also said it would continue to resist all \u201cassaults\u201d of the Narendra Modi government on the principles, provisions and practices contained in the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, \u201cThe atmosphere in the country regarding the Waqf Board Amendment Bill is such that it feels like this Bill has been brought to harass minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Late at night in the Lok Sabha, when this Bill was passed, it received 288 votes in favour and 232 votes against. Why did this happen? This means there are many flaws in the Bill.\u201d
From this, one can guess that, despite opposition from various parties, this Bill was brought arbitrarily, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cThis \u2018might is right\u2019 — won\u2019t be good for anyone!\u201d Kharge said. In a post on X, AICC general secretary in-charge organisation Jairam Ramesh said, \u201cThe INC (Indian National Congress) will very soon be challenging in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cWe are confident and will continue to resist all assaults of the Modi government on the principles, provisions, and practices that are contained in the Constitution of India,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Ramesh also said the Congress\u2019 challenge of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, was being heard in the Supreme Court. The Congress\u2019 challenge of the 2019 amendments to the RTI Act, 2005, is being heard in the Supreme Court, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JDU and RLD leaders quit party<\/strong>
Five senior leaders of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) resigned from the party by Friday, signalling discontent within a section of the party over its backing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. The legislation has sparked a storm within the NDA ally ahead of the upcoming Bihar elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The latest resignation came from Tabrez Hasan, the party\u2019s youth wing vice president. Before him, JDU Minority Cell State Secretary Mohammad Shahnawaz Malik, State General Secretary Mohammad Tabrez Siddiqui from Aligarh, Bhojpur-based member Mohammad Dilshan Rain, and former candidate Mohammad Qasim Ansari also stepped down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Tabrez Hasan, in his resignation letter, said that the party\u2019s support for the bill had broken the trust of Muslims, who believed that it stood for secular values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cI had hoped you would maintain your secular image, but you chose to stand with forces that have repeatedly worked against Muslims,\u201d Hasan wrote in a letter addressed to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. He said the NDA government\u2019s Waqf Bill followed earlier moves such as the abrogation of Article 370, triple talaq law, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, which he said harmed Muslim interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RLD: <\/strong>Meanwhile, similar developments were seen in the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), another NDA ally that backed the Waqf Bill in Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In Uttar Pradesh, Shahzaib Rizvi, state general secretary of RLD, resigned from the party on Friday. In his resignation letter, he accused party chief Jayant Chaudhary of \u201cabandoning secularism\u201d and failing to support Muslims. \u201cMuslims supported Jayant Chaudhary in large numbers, but he did not stand with us when it mattered,\u201d Rizvi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The RLD also saw other resignations at the district level. Mohammad Zaki, district general secretary in Hapur, resigned along with a group of local leaders. In a letter to the state party chief, Zaki wrote that the party had remained silent on Muslim issues and had chosen power over principles. \u201cIt has become clear that the party leadership now prioritises political ambition over the public\u2019s interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parliament\u2019s nod to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill rendering it the government\u2019s most consequential piece of legislation in its third term, and the political heat it generated inside and outside the legislature defined the second half of the Budget session which ended on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[679],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nagaland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}