Karnataka Waqf land grab: Bommai urges Siddaramaiah to order probe

Bengaluru, Nov 3 (PTI) Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to immediately order a Special Investigation Team or CBI probe to take action based on the Anwar Manippady report on encroachment of Waqf properties.

Manippady, as the chairman of the Karnataka State Minority Commission, had prepared the report, submitted it to the government in March 2012 when the BJP was in power. It was later tabled in the legislature. The report had allegedly named several state and national Congress leaders.

"To take action based on the Anwar Manippady report on encroachment of Waqf properties, I urge the Chief Minister to immediately order for SIT or CBI probe," Bommai said in a post on 'X'.

Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters in Hubballi, the former CM clarified that he had only asked the Waqf Board to reclaim the Waqf properties encroached by Congress leaders, as per the Anwar Manippady report, and not farmers' properties.

He alleged that Housing, Minorities Welfare and Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan had released an old video of his, and was falsely propagating that he had asked the Waqf Board to take over farmers' lands.

"I spoke at a Waqf event. I did not hold any Waqf Board meeting. What I mentioned then was based on the report given by Anwar Manipaddy's committee. It clearly outlines which prominent Congress leaders have fraudulently encroached on Waqf properties. We (BJP govt) did not issue any notice to farmers, nor did we seize any farmers' land," Bommai said.

He urged Zameer Ahmed Khan to first recover the Waqf properties encroached by Congress leaders before issuing notices to farmers.

Bommai also criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, terming his move of instructing the withdrawal of notices to farmers as a political tactic to gain public favour.

"What guarantee that the notices will not be reissued after the elections? The government should instead revoke gazette notifications related to Waqf properties, if the CM truly cares about farmers' welfare and wants to protect their lands. No notices should be issued to farmers," he said.

Siddaramaiah on Saturday directed officials to immediately retract all notices sent to farmers concerning Waqf land issues, emphasizing that no disturbances should be caused to the farmers.

The directive followed a high-level meeting involving senior officials from the Revenue Department, Minority Welfare Department, and the Waqf Board. PTI