A sea of men, who gathered at the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)‘s protest meeting at Darussalaam on Saturday, spilled out of the massive ground with most of them carrying flags and placards.
Addressing the meeting, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the amendments to the Waqf Act, and maintained that the Muslim panel would continue its unrelenting protests till the law is withdrawn.
“This protest is not merely to safeguard our masjids, eidgahs, graveyards, and waqf lands. It is a resistance against a regime that seeks to finish us,” Mr. Owaisi said.
‘Modi not India’s beauty, pluralism is’
“I tore this bill not just for Muslims, but for all Indians — Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians — who believe in the pluralism, and unity which is the beauty of our country. The beauty of India is not Narendra Modi.”
Mr. Owaisi accused the BJP government of targeting the religious identity of Muslims since coming to power in 2014, including the triple talaq law, and Citizenship Amendment Act. He said that now the BJP is raising the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
Warning that the UCC aims to dilute Islamic personal law, he invoked Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s emphasis on the preservation of Shariat Application Act. “Form human chains with our Hindu and Sikh brothers. Our strength lies in our unity,” he said, referring to the AIMPLB’s soon-to-be-organised demonstration.
He called upon the public not to harbour ill will against the Muslim Dawoodi Bohras. “They are our religious brothers. Modi has misled people about them,” he said.
Mr. Owaisi stated that the Dawoodi Bohras themselves had declined involvement in waqf itself. “With the Syedna [as their leader], they have said there can be no separate mutawalli. Harish Salve himself appeared before the Waqf panel,” he noted.
Calling for peaceful democratic resistance, he urged the crowd to remain steadfast.
AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani issued a strong caution against what he termed as “misleading interpretations” of the Supreme Court’s recent observations on waqf properties.
“The Court has not struck down the Waqf amendments,” he said. He added, “If the ASI takes over Mecca Masjid, which is 300-years old, it would no longer be treated as waqf. Namaz would not be permitted — only tourism would be allowed,”Maulana Rahmani said.
He said that the board is representative of all Muslims: Sunni, Shia, Hanafi, Ahle Hadeeth, and those associated with Sufi dargahs. “Our presence today reflects that unity. The government seeks to weaken the Board and make people lose trust in it,” he said.
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