Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a meeting in Mumbai on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Maharashtra government will soon crack down on a “massive Waqf land scam in Maharashtra between the years 2000 to 2014”, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told The Hindu on Friday. In an exclusive conversation, he also said that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill had nothing to do with Hindutva. “It is in the constitutional spirit of a democratic, socialist Republic of India,” he said referring to the provisions of the amended law.
Calling the decision to pass the Bill a historic one for the benefit of the community, he said it ended a “draconian law” that was “not well-thought”, and “which had faced stringent observations by the apex court”. “The aim is to bring transparency. If the property is in the name of Allah, it should be transparent. It should be used for the benefit of people,” he said.
When asked about the criticism of the Opposition that the new Bill was aimed to grab Waqf land, he claimed that the earlier governments had grabbed Waqf land. “The entire Waqf land is grabbed by the Congress. There was a huge scam from the year 2000 to 2014. It had the names of all the big Congress leaders. In fact, I had raised the issue in the Assembly. A committee headed by a judge was formed. The committee had submitted a report that the land was grabbed by these leaders. We will now take action in that matter,” he said.
When asked about the names of the Congress leaders involved in the scam, he said he did not remember the names off hand, but several key leaders were named.
He slammed the Opposition parties for opposing the Waqf Bill. He criticised them, claiming that they adhered to the policy of “appeasement of minorities”. “They are now criticising us out of frustration. It is their policy of appeasement that makes them say it. They too know that the Bill is constitutional. They just want to please their constituency. They should wake up after so many so many defeats now. They should understand that on the basis of appeasement, you will only divide the society,” he said.
‘Draconian law undone’
Calling the Waqf Bill the need of the hour, he said it was the right time to bring about a law with practical provisions. “It was an opportune time for the earlier Waqf law to be amended. It was draconian in nature. There was no system of appeal. If my house was declared as a Waqf property, I had no way to appeal. The process was very cumbersome. In fact, the Supreme Court itself had passed several observations at different times, saying it was mis-utilised. It was done only for the appeasement of a community. How can it be constitutional if there is no right to appeal? These draconian provisions have been changed. Now, it will be transparent, and for the benefit of the people,” he said.
He said that the community’s concerns about infringement of their religious rights were also addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “There is no such concern about the community now. In fact, I heard the parliamentary speeches. A parliamentarian from Jharkhand talked about how the Secretary of a Jyotirling was a Muslim. How does it matter? We are secular,” he said.
Published – April 04, 2025 11:14 pm IST