Waqf Reform

Inadvertently or not, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah may have handed the Muslim community a remarkable gift. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, passed after a fiery 12-hour debate in the Lok Sabha on April 2nd, has been predictably branded ‘anti-Muslim’ by an Opposition eager to stir communal anxieties. Yet, in reality, the bill does no such thing. Most significantly, it makes no provision to reclaim land that Waqf Boards have previously seized, often under dubious circumstances, under the sweeping powers they wielded for decades. This alone is an act of extraordinary leniency.

The bill amends the Waqf Act of 1995, stripping away its most controversial provision: Section 40, which allowed Waqf Boards to unilaterally declare any land as waqf property, sometimes at the mere assertion of an individual or cleric. The removal of this clause eliminates a longstanding grievance that had led to legal battles, bureaucratic paralysis and allegations of land-grabbing under religious pretext. So, while it prevents further grabbing of land under this provision, there is no enabler to recover land already classified as waqf property in the past. Had the bill included a provision to revisit past acquisitions, it would have sparked a fierce reckoning over Waqf Boards’ unchecked expansion. Instead, it effectively lets sleeping dogs lie.

Despite its generosity, the bill has provoked outrage. The Opposition claims the amendments undermine Muslim religious institutions. That charge is not just misleading but mischievous. The amendments neither dilute the Islamic nature of waqf endowments nor interfere in religious practices. If anything, the bill reinforces the autonomy of Muslim institutions, ensuring that only Muslims can serve as mutawallis (custodians) and donors, while permitting non-Muslims to be included in administrative roles for transparency.

Opposition leaders may find it convenient to ignore the sheer scale of the waqf system in India. Waqf Boards collectively control over 8.7 lakh properties, spanning 9.4 lakh acres, making them one of the country’s largest landowners, alongside the Indian Railways and the armed forces. In the past 12 years alone, 21 lakh acres were added to waqf holdings, raising serious concerns about the methods of acquisition. Yet, instead of addressing these concerns, critics of the bill have clung to the tired argument that any reform of waqf laws is an attack on the Muslim community.

For decades, Waqf Boards have functioned with little oversight, despite widespread corruption, nepotism, and mismanagement. The bill’s introduction of a Unified Waqf Management system, aptly named UMEED (hope), is a belated attempt to bring efficiency and accountability to an institution that desperately needs it.

It is revealing that the Opposition, which claims to champion minority welfare, has chosen to side with the status quo instead of supporting reforms that could help ordinary Muslims. This bill strengthens waqf governance, removes the arbitrary power to annex land and leaves past acquisitions unchallenged. The real question is whether the Muslim community will recognize this reform for what it is: not an attack, but an opportunity.