Shah Blasts UPA, Vows to Protect Property with Waqf Reforms

In a heated Lok Sabha debate, Amit Shah and Kiren Rijiju accused the UPA of manipulating Waqf rules for political gain, citing examples of large-scale land transfers.¹ The government promises the new bill will bring much needed transparency.

BY PC Bureau

New Delhi – ,April 2, 2025

A heated debate in the Lok Sabha over the Waqf Amendment Bill saw Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju launch scathing attacks on the previous UPA government, accusing it of facilitating large-scale land grabbing under the guise of Waqf properties. The ministers asserted that the amended bill aims to rectify these alleged injustices and bring transparency to the management of Waqf properties.

Amit Shah, during his address, presented a detailed list of properties that he claimed were wrongly designated as Waqf, including land belonging to temples, other religious institutions, government entities, and private individuals. “You cannot donate someone else’s property. You donate something which is yours,” Shah emphasized, reinforcing the government’s stance that the Waqf had become a tool for land encroachment.

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He cited several examples to illustrate his point. “The Karnataka High Court had to stop grabbing of 602 sq km by Waqf,” Shah stated, highlighting the scale of the alleged misappropriation. He further alleged that prime properties in Delhi’s Lutyens zone were transferred to the Waqf, and that government land was also being targeted. “In Tamil Nadu, a 400-year-old temple property was declared as Waqf’s. Land for a five-star establishment was given to Waqf for ₹12,000 a month… Several properties belonging to different religions were declared as Waqf property, including Chandra Shekhar Azad Park in Prayagraj,” he added.

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VIDEO | Waqf (Amendment) Bill: Speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah) says, “How can any decision of the government or an organisation be outside the court’s jurisdiction? Where will the person whose land has been taken go? Congress did this for… pic.twitter.com/54vybgq6ly

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 2, 2025

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Shah asserted that the amended Waqf bill would act as a crucial safeguard against such practices. “This bill will protect property. Like ASI property, Tribal land, private property and for Waqf, you can only donate private, personal property and not the land of the community (village). This bill will bring transparency,” he declared.

Prior to Shah’s address, Kiren Rijiju raised concerns about a case pending since 1970 in Delhi, involving numerous properties, including the old Parliament building. “The Delhi Waqf Board had claimed these… the case was in court but then the UPA denotified 123 properties and gave them to the Waqf Board,” Rijiju alleged. “If we had not introduced this amendment today, even the building we are sitting in could have been claimed as Waqf property. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not come to power… several other properties would also have been de-notified,” he added, highlighting the urgency of the proposed amendments.

Shah directly blamed the UPA government for the current situation, accusing them of altering Waqf rules just before the 2014 general election. “In 2013, they (the Congress-led government) wiped out the provision to take land-grabbing complaints to court. They sinned. The new bill will not come in retrospective effect, but they are trying to scare the people,” he stated, characterizing the UPA’s actions as “politics of appeasement.”

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To counter accusations of unilateral action, Shah emphasized that the government had conducted extensive consultations before introducing the amendments. “We got over 1 crore suggestions from people… Our principle is clear, we won’t bring any law for vote bank, it’s for justice,” he asserted, adding that the bill had even garnered support from Christians in Kerala.

The government’s push for the Waqf Amendment Bill signals its intent to overhaul the management of Waqf properties, aiming to prevent alleged land grabbing and ensure greater transparency. The allegations levelled against the UPA government have intensified the political debate, with the opposition expected to challenge the government’s claims and the implications of the proposed amendments.