Vishva Hindu Parishad has suggested the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Act to enact one single law for endowments of all religious properties in the country instead of only for Muslims.
While the JPC for Waqf Amendment Act is conducting consultations with government officials, legal experts and community members from various parts of the country, VHP has sent its suggestion to the committee. The Hindu organisation’s president Alok Kumar has suggested that instead of different laws governing control and management of properties of different religious communities, there should be one single law for endowments of all religious properties in the country.
In its suggestion, VHP said that just like the Waqf dedicates the property to Allah, the Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs also dedicate their properties to the deities for the maintenance of their places of worship and for pious religious and charitable purposes. It said that this plan will be aligned with the uniform civil code which is mentioned in the Article 44 of the Indian Constitution.
Kumar said that the Waqf Board was not tabled by the parliament by or on behalf of the government but as a private member’s bill by Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi and the then ruling party was complicit in the moving of this bill. He also quoted former parliamentarian Rajagopala Naidu who had said in the House that there should not be a separate piece of legislation for religious and charitable endowments of the Muslims.
Kumar said that Waqf Act appears as an old-fashioned custom of the colonial period where a privileged law was enacted only for the second religious majority of India and it is now time that the scope of this Act is enlarged to cover the charities of all religions.
“The time now presents us with a golden opportunity. While the amendments to the Waqf Act are being considered, the opportunity should be utilised to consider, whether the time has now come, as the Government through the Law Minister had said in 1954, to bring forward a measure dealing with endowments of all kinds. However, if need be, there may be some exceptions and special provisions, wherever needed to tailor to the needs, precepts and traditions of a religion as distinguished from other religions,” read VHP’s suggestion.
