The Parliament of India approved a bill on Thursday to reform greatly rich Muslim land organizations, with the Hindu nationalist government saying that it will boost responsibility, while the opposition qualified it as a “attack” against a minority.
The Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi argues that the bill will increase transparency to more than a dozen powerful WAQF tables, which control the properties given by Muslim charitable endowments.
There are about two dozen WAQF boards throughout India, having about 900,000 acres (365.00 hectares), a multimillion -dollar real estate empire that makes them one of the largest holders together with the railroads and defense forces.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, who presented the bill on Wednesday, said he would verify corruption and poor management and reduce the control of a few rooted groups.
The bill was approved by the Chamber of Representatives of Parliament after a marathon debate that extended until the early hours of Thursday.
The upper house of Parliament is expected to approve it later on Thursday, delivering much larger powers to public officials in the supervision of the WAQF boards.
Amit Shah, the Interior Minister and a nearby Modi assistant, said the changes would help “catch people who lease the properties” to obtain individual profits.
“That money, which could be used to help the development of minorities, is being stolen,” he said.
The non -Muslims, which will be included in the Boards as part of the new bill, will only participate in “administrative”, Shah said.
However, opposition parties accuse the government of promoting “polarization policy” at the expense of the Muslim minority of India of 200 million.
“The WAQF (amendment) bill is a weapon destined to marginalize Muslims and usurp their personal laws and property rights,” said the head of the opposition congress party, Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi called him an “attack” of the Hindu nationalists who accused was “aimed at Muslims today, but establishes a precedent to attack other communities in the future.”
The opposition parties see the bill as part of the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party of Modi to win the favor with his Hindu right -wing base.
Modi’s BJP has supported the right -wing claims of mosques built on the ancient Hindu temples and took the efforts to build a large Hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque of the Mogol era in Ayodhya.
