As Jamiat ups ante, TDP leader says Naidu won’t let through any Bill that hurts Muslims

Amid opposition to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill from several Muslim bodies, senior leader of key NDA constituent TDP, Nawab Jan, has said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will not let any bill that harms the interests of the Muslims be implemented.

Addressing the Samvidhan Bachao Sammelan organised by Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday (November 3), Jan urged everyone to come together to stop the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 from being passed in Parliament.

“Muslims got unprecedented benefits under Naidu’s rule”

Chandrababu Naidu has always said he has two eyes — one Hindu and one Muslim, Jan said.

“He (Naidu) says any harm done to one eye affects the whole body and we must keep this in mind as we move forward on the path of development,” Jan said.

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The benefits that Muslims got under Naidu’s rule are unprecedented since the Independence of the country, Jan, a senior leader of the Telugu Desam Party, said.

“Chandrababu is a person of a secular mindset — such a person is our chief minister, (he) will not let a bill that harms Muslims be implemented,” he said.

TDP “won’t tolerate attempt to harm unity of country”

The TDP leader claimed that sending the Waqf (Amendment) Bill to Parliament’s Joint Committee (JPC) could only be made possible because of Naidu.

Jan also claimed that Naidu said a few days ago that whether it is a Muslim, Hindu, or Christian institution, it should have people of the same religion.

“We will tolerate everything, but will not tolerate any attempt to harm the unity of the country,” Jan said.

The BJP does not have a majority in the Lok Sabha and its government at the Centre is reliant on the support of other parties such as the TDP and the Janata Dal (U).

Jamiat’s warning to “crutches”

Stepping up its campaign against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on Sunday urged Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar to heed the sentiments of the Muslims on the matter.

The Jamiat said the parties within the NDA that claim to be secular must distance themselves from supporting this “dangerous” legislation.

It cautioned that if the legislation is passed, the “two crutches” on which the BJP-led government is running at the Centre — TDP and JD(U) — would not be able to escape responsibility.

Jamiat’s to hold gathering in Naidu’s “area”

Jamiat chief Maulana Arshad Madani made the assertion at the Save Constitution Convention.

“People of the country defeated the BJP. They did not accept their policies. This government is dependent on two crutches — a strong one is Chandrababu and the other is Bihar’s Nitish Kumar. I had invited him (Naidu); he excused himself but has sent his party’s vice-president Nawab Jan. I look at this positively, as he will convey the sentiments of the people gathered here,” Madani said.

“If the Waqf Bill is passed ignoring the emotions of the Muslims — it would be as much a responsibility of the crutches as it would be of other powers at the Centre,” Madani asserted.

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Jamiat has decided that either by the end of this month or in December, it will hold a gathering of around five lakh Muslims in Chandrababu Naidu’s “area” and put forward Muslims’ feelings before him threadbare.

“If this bill is passed, the crutches on which the government is dependent would not be able to escape responsibility for it,” he reiterated.

“We have not come from outside”

Madani said the Waqf is established by “our ancestors and is a part of Allah’s ownership, with mosques built on it”.

“You (government) should protect them because we live in this country and we have not come from outside. If a Hindu is a Gujjar, a Muslim is also a Gujjar...Hindus are Jats, Muslims are also Jats — they chant slogans saying that Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs are separate, but we say that ‘Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, sab hai bhai bhai’,” the Jamiat chief said.

“There are so many mosques, some of which are 400–500 years old, located in Delhi... There is a section in India that seeks to usurp these mosques... Who can present 500-year-old documents? The law states that any mosque built on Waqf land is indeed Waqf,” Madani said.

“Urged Muslims to support INDIA”

He also said that the INDIA bloc and Rahul Gandhi had stated in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls that if they came to power, all minorities would be free to practice their religion, an assertion he appreciated.

“That is why I urged Muslims to support the alliance that gives them the freedom to practise their religion and I am happy that Muslims supported the alliance throughout the country,” Madani said.

Also read: Opposition members walk out of Waqf panel meet alleging changes to Delhi report

“I say that if they did not have the crutches of Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar, the BJP would not have been able to form a government. The policy of divisiveness and trying to burn down the idea of secularism has led them to this state after thumping wins in two earlier elections,” the Jamiat chief said.

Bill being examined

A Joint Committee of Parliament is examining the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August and referred to a Joint Parliamentary panel after a heated debate, with the government asserting the proposed law, did not intend to interfere with the functioning of mosques and the Opposition calling it a targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.

The committee’s meetings have often seen tempers fly with Opposition members accusing the Chair of inviting different organisations, including those working for Hindu causes, that have no stake in the Waqf issues and the BJP members charging their political rivals with deliberately disturbing the proceedings.

(With agency inputs)