Shillong, April 6: The Muslim organisations in the city have opposed Waqf law cleared by the Centre on Saturday after the Waqf (Amendment Bill) 2025 was passed by both the houses of the Parliament.
They held a meeting here on Sunday to discuss the matter.
The assistant general secretary of Shillong Muslim Union Noor Nongrum cited many reasons for opposing the law.
“The new law allows non-Muslims to be part of the Waqf Board as earlier members of the Muslim community were part of the Board. If it is so, it should be uniform for other religious bodies like a temple trust ,Christian and Buddhist institutions among others”, he said.
Nongrum pointed out that the new law stipulates that an individual should practise Islam for five years to be recognised as a Muslim.
“I have to prove before the government and the government will decide whether I am a Muslim or not”, he said.
According to Nongrum, the law will make Muslims landless.
“Wakf itself is a religious institution. As Wakf property can be transferred, it has infringed upon our religious tenet . We thank the 238 MPs- majority of whom were non-Muslims- for opposing the bill. They tried tooth and nail to stop the bill from passing”, Nongrum added.
He said the government is misleading the people as earlier too, the Waqf Tribunal was not a final authority as its decisions were open for challenge in the court and it was always the goverment that controlled the Waqf Board
On Catholic Bishops Conference of India supporting the bill, Nongrum said no official statement came from Rome regarding this and the support was related to individual cases.
Nongrum pointed that though Muslims are affected currently, in future other religious bodies may also face the same fate.
