FE REPORT
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday called upon the Indian government to ensure religious harmony by reconsidering the Waqf amendment bill for the sake of a congenial environment in the region.
BNP also termed the amendment as discriminatory and interference in religious rights of the Muslims in India.
"We urge (India) to take steps for maintaining religious harmony. Our main concern is that if any unstable situation arises over religion in India that could create an adverse impact on Bangladesh," said BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed at a news conference at the party chairperson's office in the city.
"India is a large democratic country. We express our hope that the Indian government will reconsider the said law, upholding the guardianship role of the state in protecting the religious rights of citizens of all religions in a large democratic country," said the BNP leader.
"We believe that this step will play a historic role in maintaining regional communal harmony," he added.
On Friday, an amendment bill called the Muslim Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 was passed in the Indian Parliament.
After analysing its various sections, BNP found that this law attempts to curtail the rights of the minority Muslims of India and to discriminate against them.
Muslims and various Muslim organisations in India have reacted to this bill as unconstitutional and politically motivated.
Waqf is an ancient system of Islamic donation. Through waqf, a person permanently donates a property, usually land, for religious or charitable purposes. Such waqf property cannot be sold or transferred to anyone.
"There is ample scope for misuse of this law, which is against the religious tradition, rights, culture and interests of 14 per cent of India's population, i.e. about 200 million Muslims, which can create a huge disaster in the management of Islamic religious institutions," he said in a statement.
Most of the approximately one million acres of property under the Waqf Boards in India is used for public welfare purposes such as mosques, madrasas, cemeteries and orphanages.
The inclusion of non-Muslim members in the management board in the new law has created controversy, which may violate the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens.
"We believe that it is not appropriate to take any such step at the state level as it may interfere in the religious rights of Muslims and lead to the destruction of communal harmony due to discriminatory behaviour," said the BNP senior leader.
In India, there is no inclusion of followers of other religions in such boards or in any legal organisation. In that case, this law will be considered as a discriminatory law.
The changes in the new law could leave the future of mosques and other Islamic religious institutions built on waqf land established centuries ago uncertain.
The new law gives non-Muslim members the authority to manage and administer these properties, which directly interferes with the religious rights of Muslim citizens, he added.
According to organisations such as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the law goes against the spirit of the Islamic waqf system. According to them, the waqf board should be run by Muslims. They have said that it directly interferes in the religious rights of Muslim citizens.
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