Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sought to address the grievances and concerns of Muslims over the Waqf Amendment Act and asked the public to ignore communal overtures made by certain leaders.

“The central government has come up with the Waqf Amendment Act. We had objected to it and had even passed a resolution in the Assembly against the legislation. A case filed by us on the issue is still pending in the Supreme Court,” Mamata told a public meeting on the college ground at Gazole in Malda district.

After the Narendra Modi government had introduced the Act, the chief minister
said it would not affect the Muslims living in Bengal. However, her government recently said those associated with waqf properties needed to upload detailed documents to the website to ensure that the assets remained with them.

The documents have to be uploaded by December 5, said sources. There are over 80,000 waqf properties in the state.

As the Bengal government’s instruction to upload the waqf details came late, minimum days are left for the same.

“Let me make it clear that as long as I am there, I would not allow anybody to touch the religious places or do anything that can affect the interests of people,” said Mamata.

Later in the evening, Mamata returned to Murshidabad where she spoke to Niyamat Sheikh and Akhruzzaman, two Trinamool Congress MLAs from the district. Party insiders said the MLAs were instructed to find out if a new legal case could be filed against the Act.

Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, had referred to the issue while speaking at a public function in Malda.

“Mamata Banerjee had earlier said that she would not accept the Act, and now, you people are facing the consequences. If she had accepted it earlier, you would have more time to carry out the necessary formalities for the waqf properties,” he had said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the public meeting on Wednesday, Mamata also underscored the secular stance of her party.

“We have always attached priority to religious amity. The BJP should not try to teach us Hindutva. I would like to tell you all that you should ignore communal remarks and attempts to divide people,” said the chief minister.

On Tuesday, Adhikari had exhorted Hindus to unite irrespective of their mother tongue and caste. Besides, Humayan Kabir, the Trinamool MLA from Bharatpur in
Murshidabad, has been planning to build a mosque in the district. He had on Tuesday slammed a section of the administration for trying to obstruct him.

“The chief minister’s message is loud and clear that she is not going to endorse communal remarks from any side… even if it comes from a leader of her own party. It would be interesting to see whether she refers to the issue (of Kabir) while addressing tomorrow’s public meeting (in Murshidabad),” said a senior Trinamool functionary in Behrampore.