Dhaka //

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has reacted to the Waqf Bill passed in India. Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of the party’s standing committee, said that the bill seeks to curtail the rights of the country’s minority Muslims and discriminate against them.

He said this at a BNP press conference in Gulshan, the capital, on Sunday.

Salahuddin Ahmed said, “A few days ago, the Indian Parliament passed a law called the Muslim Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025. After analyzing the various sections of the law, we have seen that this law seeks to curtail the rights of India’s minority Muslims and discriminate against them. Muslims and various Muslim organizations in India have reacted to this bill as unconstitutional and politically motivated.”

“Waqf is an ancient system of Islamic donation. Through waf, a person permanently donates a property, usually land, for religious or charitable purposes. Such waqf properties cannot be sold or transferred to anyone’s name, he said.

The BNP standing committee member said that there is ample scope for misuse of this law, which is against the religious traditions, rights, culture and interests of 14 percent of India’s population, i.e. about 20 crore Muslims, which can create a huge disaster in the management of Islamic religious institutions. Of the about 1 million acres of property under the waqf boards in India, most of it is used for public welfare purposes like mosques, madrasas, graveyards and orphanages. The inclusion of non-Muslim members in the management board in the new law has created controversy, which may undermine the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens.

He said that due to interference in the religious rights of Muslims and discriminatory behavior, there may be a danger of destruction of communal harmony. We think that such a step is not appropriate to be taken at the state level. In India, there is no inclusion of people of other religions in such national boards or in any legal organization. In that case, this law will be considered a discriminatory law. The changes in the new law may make the future of mosques and other Islamic religious institutions built on waqf land established hundreds of years ago uncertain. The jurisdiction given to non-Muslim members in the new law to manage and administer these properties is a direct interference in the religious rights of Muslim citizens.

He also said, “According to organizations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, this law is against the basic spirit of the Islamic waqf system. According to them, the management of the waqf board should be done by Muslims. They have expressed their opinion that it is a direct interference in the religious rights of Muslim citizens. India is a large democratic state. We express our hope that the Indian government will reconsider the law while upholding the guardianship role of the state in protecting the religious rights of citizens of all religions in a large democratic state. This step will play a historic role in maintaining regional communal harmony, the BNP leader believes.

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