Several minority organisations jointly held a rally under the aegis of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board here on Monday against the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, and demanded that all Opposition parties unite against the BJP and vote against the bill when tabled in the Lok Sabha.

The meeting was conducted to generate support for a national programme to be held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on March 13 in protest against the bill.

Muslim leaders said the future course of action against the amendment bill — which had been sent to the Jagadambika Pal-led Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that tabled its report on the draft legislation before the Lok Sabha Speaker on January 30 — would be announced after the rally in Delhi.

The BJP claims that waqf properties had been mismanaged for a long time and the bill sought to address the problem by introducing "transparency, accountability and professionalism" in its management.

“This is the month of Ramzan for us, but we will keep fighting against the legislation,” a minority leader said at the meeting.

The leaders said the waqf board was not the only endowment board with a special Act status in the country and there were other religious endowment boards with similar provisions.

The minority leaders said if the special powers of the waqf board were scrapped and other endowment boards continued with their autonomy, it would be a clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. Not only that, the proposed amendment to the waqf Act also threatened several other fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Speaking at the rally, CPM state secretary Md. Salim said his party was completely against the proposed legislation as it hurt the basic spirit of the Constitution.

“Articles 14 and 15 don’t allow the Waqf Amendment Bill.... The BJP government wants to treat the Muslims differently. This was a part of a bigger conspiracy. This is why the triple talaq Act was enacted. This is why Article 370 was amended,” said Salim.

He added that the Narendra Modi government was eyeing waqf properties and wanted to make them a part of its "real estate agenda".

Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury also supported the agitation against the Waqf Amendment Bill saying such legislation would destroy the spirit of the Constitution.

“The central government is trying to make people believe that Muslims hold a huge quantum of land and they are controlling the land parcels through the waqf board. That is why the BJP-led government is trying to demolish the idea of waqf,” said Chowdhury, former Congress MP from Baharampur.

The minority leaders said the battle against the bill would take shape if all parties, barring the BJP, voted against the Bill when it was tabled in the Lok Sabha.

“We will request all parties to ensure that their MPs don’t walk out but vote against the bill in the Lok Sabha when it is tabled,” said a minority leader.