Waqf Bill tabled in Rajya Sabha; Kharge calls it 'unconstitutional'

New Delhi: Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday tabled the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Rajya Sabha, asserting that the proposed legislation is not against Muslims or intended to hurt their religious feelings. 

The Minister said that the bill seeks to improve the functioning of Waqf properties, address the complexities, ensure transparency and introduce technology-driven management. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill with a 288-232 vote in the wee hours of Thursday after nearly 12 hours of debate.

Seeking the opposition's support to pass the Bill, which was examined and redrafted by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), Rijiju said it aims to accomplish the unfulfilled tasks of the previous governments. He said the proposed legislation has nothing to do with religion, but deals only with properties.

Some of the opposition MPs in the Upper House were wearing black as a mark of protest against the bill. Meanwhile, the House witnessed a heated squabble over the bill.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the government is trying to sow the seeds of conflict by suppressing Muslims through the bill and appealed to the ruling party not to disturb peace and harmony in the country.

Kharge, also the Congress president, said the legislation is "unconstitutional" and is not good for Indian Muslims. He urged the government to withdraw the bill, which has a lot of "mistakes" and not make it a prestige issue. He also accused the NDA government of trying to create trouble for the Muslim community,y and the bill seeks to destroy them by usurping their properties.

"I appeal to the home minister to kindly withdraw the bill. Don't make it an issue of prestige. If there are errors and mistakes why don't you correct them? We have peace and harmony in this country. You please maintain that and you don't try to disturb that," he added.

Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ram Gopal Yadav said that all religions must be treated with respect and the government must prevent India from shifting towards a totalitarian state, the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. "Professor Manoj Jha (of the RJD) hinted that we are slowly moving away from a democratic state to a totalitarian state. It will be a very damaging situation for both the opposition and the ruling dispensation if such a situation were to arise. Do not let such a situation arise," he said.

Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, Congress MP from Karnataka, accused the Centre of citing false claims on no legal recourse against the Waqf Tribunal order.

"They say that under the existing Act, people can’t move court if they are not satisfied with the decision of the Tribunal. This is completely false. If this is the case, how come there are so many pending cases in the High Court and Supreme Court?” he said. 

He also contested provisions in the new bill which call for the inclusion of non-Muslims in waqf governing bodies and the removal of the concept 'waqf by user'. “How will you determine whether a person is a practising Muslim for 5 years? Will you check his attire or place a CCTV at his home or masjid,” Hussain asked. The Congress MP also asked the House if the government would allow a person of another religion to serve on governing bodies of temples.

Home Minister Amit Shah stood to deflate Congress MP’s claims. He stated that there was no provision for a civil suit against the Waqf Tribunal order, and it itself remains ‘discriminatory’ because this dilutes the claimant’s demands and reinforces Waqf’s claims. “In the 2013 Act, there was no provision for civil suit, which has a wider purview. The only provision was of writ petition in the High Court, which has a very limited purview,” he pointed out.

A face-off took place in the house when BJP MP Radha Mohan Das Agarwal joined the Waqf debate and stated, “When Syed Nasser Husain was sworn in to the Rajya Sabha in Bengaluru, I was in Karnataka. His supporters chanted Pakistan Zindabad. When BJP workers protested against it, they were bundled up and put in jail.”

He also described the Waqf Bill as ‘revolutionary’ and stated that this was for the first time in Independent India, a reformist legislation was brought under the Narendra Modi government for improving the lives of the Muslim community.

However, Radha Mohan’s reference to ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ left the Congress party irked and agitated. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari protested against it and said that no member can accuse the other member without putting forth the necessary documents and proof, and also, he needs to get permission from the Chair.

The Home Minister stood up to counter Tiwari’s assertions and said that the BJP MP didn’t make any accusations against Naseer Hussain. “Some people and not the RS member raised slogans during the swearing-in,” he said in defence, quoting Radha Mohan Das.

The government proposes to rename the Waqf Bill as Unified Waqf Management Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Bill.  

Earlier, defending the bill, Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Bill aims to include all the Muslim sects in the Waqf board. The minister informed the House that there were 4.9 lakh Waqf properties in 2004, which have now increased to 8.72 lakh.

Brushing aside the charges made by the opposition, Rijiju said, "The Bill is not against Muslims... We don't want to hurt anyone's religious sentiments. The Waqf board is set up only to oversee, and not manage, Waqf properties." "The government has introduced the Bill with a good intention, and thus renamed it as 'UMEED'. No one should have any problem with the name," he added.

At the same time, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday said his party would challenge the bill in the Supreme Court. The CM, who came to the Tamil Nadu Assembly wearing a black badge to protest against the passing of the Bill, said adopting the amendment at 2 am "at the behest of a few allies" despite the opposition of the majority parties in India, "is an attack on the structure of the Constitution." 

Surprisingly, the opposition AIADMK expressed solidarity with 'all steps' taken by the DMK on the issue, while the BJP members staged a walkout from the Assembly House in protest.