New Delhi: Rajya Sabha passed the controversial WAQF (Amendment) bill in 2025 in the early hours of Friday, following a marathon debate between the Ministry of Finance and the opposition bench. The House also passed the Mussalman WAQF (Repeal) Act of 2024. The bill will now turn to the president for help.
After Lok Sabha submitted the bill on Thursday 288-232, Union Minister of Ethnic Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju put it in the House of Lords on Thursday. The bill aims to include all Muslim denominations on the WAQF board.
The minister said there were 490,000 WAQF properties in 2004, and now it has increased to 872,000. Rijiju said the goal is to complete the unfinished tasks of the previous government.
The minister added: “The government proposed the bill with good will, so it was renamed ‘Umeed’. No one had any questions about the name.” The government recommended renaming the bill into a unified WAQF Administrative Authorization, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) bill.
Congressman Syed Naseer Hussain defeated the bill unconstitutional and claimed it targeted the Muslim community, even as he accused the BJP of using legislation to trigger community tension and polarization to strengthen its voting bank. He claimed the bill attempts to treat Muslims as second-class citizens.
House leader JP NADDA accused Congress of making second-year citizens of Muslim women during the center’s rule.
Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of trying to suppress Muslims through bills to sow the seeds of conflict. He said the legislation was “unconstitutional” and was not good for Muslims. He urged the government to withdraw the bill, which he said was a lot of “mistakes” rather than becoming a matter of prestige.
Kharge claims the distribution of the ruling wants to take Muslim land and hand it over to corporate friends. He also questioned the bill’s non-Muslim membership rules, comparing the Indian Trust where Muslims cannot become members. He asked if Hindus would trust their faith and why the WAQF board should allow members of other religions. He even added that no one like SC is a trustee.
Nada said the Modi government brought Muslim women into the mainstream by banning Tarak.
“I support the (WAQF) bill because its sole purpose is to provide reforms to administer WAQF Properties,” Nada said. When talking about some opposition MPs, he joined many members of the House, just entered the house, gave a speech and walked away.
Chairman Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar also added that some MPs were just trying to give speeches.
During the discussion, a war of talks between independent MPs Kapil Sibal and Rijiju broke out.
“When this is my land, then who do you do it?” Sibar said. He mentioned that Hindu (religious) institutions in four states have more than one million acres of land.
“In Hindu religion, self-acquired property can be given to sons rather than daughters,” Sibar said.
Rijiju intervened and opposed the wrong comparison with Muslim religious land in four states. The Minister of Minority Affairs attacked the senior Rajya Sabha member as he caused confusion and raised questions in the House, but did not stay and listen to the replies of the minister concerned. He said Sibar had confused the bill by comparing the property of the WAQF agency with the property of other religious institutions.
Federal Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that the government appoints officials to manage these religious institutions that manage these (Indian) properties.
Sibal hit, he said his view was that the government maintained the property, and that the WAQF statutory body also had people appointed.
Sibal deceived the Minister of Minority Affairs: “The minister does not know the difference between trust and Waqf. WAQF property belongs to God and cannot be sold. Donations can be made for cemeteries, schools, etc. Once the land is donated, the land cannot be retrieved, which is different from trust.” He said.
RJD member Manoj Jha in Rajya Sabha said the content and intention of the WAQF bill raised a question mark on the government asking it not to hurry up and send it to the Parliamentary Selection Committee again.
CPI(M) John Brittas participated in the debate saying the bill was a summary attack. He said this is “an attack on the basic purpose of the Indian Constitution, secularism, democracy and equality.
YSRCP’s YV Subba Reddy and BJD’s Muzibulla Khan oppose the bill, saying it was unconstitutional.
Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party said that all religions must be respected and the government must prevent India from transferring to totalitarian states.
DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said his party opposed the bill because it was flawed. “I am against this bill on behalf of my party…we rejected it altogether because it is legally flawed, constitutionally irrefutable and morally reprehensible,” he said.
“The new WAQF Bill Reeks are not trusted,” said TMC MP Sushmita Dev.
