Several instances of land grabs by the Waqf Board have recently emerged. The Waqf Act was first passed by the Bharatiya Parliament in 1954. Subsequently, it was repealed, and a new Waqf Act was passed in 1995, giving more power to Waqf Boards. In 2013, this Act was further amended to give virtually unlimited powers to Waqf Boards to snatch anyone’s property, which could not even be challenged in any court of law.
In March 2014, just before the commencement of the Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress used this law to gift 123 prime properties in Delhi to the Delhi Waqf Board. Due to this black law, thousands of acres of Hindu land, including temple lands, have been snatched away in the country so far. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board has declared 6 Villages of Tamil Nadu, including a 1500-year-old Hindu Temple, as Waqf property.
The idea of Waqf, the concept of Islamic land ownership, dictates that ‘Once a Waqf, always a Waqf’. Once you become a Muslim, you can never leave it; similarly, when a land owned by Muslims becomes ‘Waqf’, then it can never revert back to non-Muslims. This absurd claim has been strengthened by the Waqf Act of 1995. Waqf properties, around 4 lakh acres in 2009, have doubled up and become 8,54,509, now spreading over 8 lakh acres.
This article lists some of the blatant grabbing of Hindu temples as well as the Hindu public lands by the Waqf Board.
- Land grabbing in Kolhapur, Maharashtra: The villagers of Wadanage, situated in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur District, observed a bandh on 24 May 2024 to protest the Waqf Board’s land grab adjacent to Mahadev Temple. The Waqf Board is accused of grabbing land adjacent to Mahadev Temple and shops in the area.
- Possible involvement in The Krishna Janmabhoomi Case: In the ongoing dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communities over the ownership rights of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Eidgah in Mathura, the Hindu side has raised concerns over the Waqf Board’s alleged practice of encroaching upon properties and declaring them as waqf assets. Advocate Reena N Singh, the counsel for the Hindu side, urged the court to prevent such practices, emphasizing the need to safeguard historical sites from encroachment.
- Declaration of the Surat Municipal Corporation as Waqf property: The Waqf Board’s controversial decision to declare the head office of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), known as ‘Muglisara’ (Mughal Sarai), as waqf property, was recently quashed in April 2024. In November 2021, the Waqf Board partially approved an application and declared the SMC Headquarters Waqf property. The municipality then challenged the decision in the Waqf Tribunal in a legal battle.
- Claiming the Lakshman Teela / Teele Wali Masjid in Lucknow as Waqf property: In March 2024, the Sunni Central Waqf Board claimed that the Teele Wali Masjid in Lucknow is a Waqf property and sought the transfer of the case to the Waqf Tribunal for further hearing. The petitioner, Nripendra Pandey, sought a survey of the Teele Wali Masjid, claiming it to be Lakshman Teela, constructed by Lakshman, the younger brother of Sri Ram. Advocate Nripendra Pandey filed the suit in court on 15 February 2023, seeking permission to offer prayers at the Bhagwan Shesh Nagesh Teeleshwar Mahadev Mandir.
- Involvement with Telangana state government in discriminatory policies: On 15 November 2023, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) said his government would develop IT clusters for young men and women from minority communities if voted to power. While addressing the crowd in Nizamabad, the BRS chief said that the state had been thinking about this for some time and would get permission from the Waqf board. In September 2020, the Telangana government reportedly contemplated extending judicial powers to the Waqf Board.
- Claiming ownership of Anangakaundanputhur village in Tamilnadu: In a shocking revelation in August 2023, it was found that the Waqf Board of Tamil Nadu claimed ownership of Anangakaundanputhur village, which is located in the Komarapalayam Panchayat of Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu’s Erode district. The land allocated to the Arunthathiyar community (Scheduled Caste) became a source of contention between the community and the Waqf Board. After 40 years, it was a shock to the community to witness the claim that the land where their houses are located belongs to the Waqf Board.
- The takeover of The Mohamedan Education Society of Kolhapur: The Mohamedan Education Society of Kolhapur and its assets, worth Rs. 3,500 crores, have been taken over by the State Waqf Board. The said society was established by Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj in 1906 and is also known as ‘The King Edward Mohamedan Education Society’ or the ‘Muslim Boarding’. On June 23, the waqf board sent directives to the organisation’s trustee, stating that after carefully examining the paperwork, it had determined that the institution was a waqf institution and its assets belonged to it. However, the Mohamedan Education Society’s officeholders assert that the organization is not governed by the waqf board.
- More than 50 acres of land grabbed in a Tamil Nadu village: In January 2023, Hindus’ properties were snatched from them in a Tamil Nadu village as the Waqf Board claimed them as theirs. The district administration seized over 50 acres of agricultural land from Hindu farmers and handed them over to Waqf. Hindus say that the court proved their ownership of the properties, yet the district administration snatched them away.
- Claiming ownership of an entire village in Tiruchirapalli district, Tamil Nadu: A pall of gloom descended over the people of Thiruchendurai village in Tiruchirapalli district as the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board reportedly claimed the entire village to be its property. According to a report by Tamil daily Dinamalar, one Rajagopal of Mullikarupur, owning agricultural land in Thiruchendurai village, had agreed to sell 1 acre 2 cents of his land to one Rajarajeshwari. He had gone to the Joint III Sub-Registrar office in Trichy to arrange the purchase deed for ₹3.5 lakhs and get it registered. However, he was told by the sub-registrar that the land could not be registered as it belonged to the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board.
- Claiming the Idgah Maidan and opposing Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations in Karnataka: The Idgah (or Eidgah) Maidan in Hubli has been a subject of dispute for decades, with the Waqf Board and Muslim community claiming that they own the ground exclusively. At the same time, the administration maintains that it is a govt property only leased to Muslims. The long-standing ownership dispute was ended in 2010 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Idgah Maidan was the exclusive property of the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC).
- Staking a claim on two Bet Dwarka islands in Gujarat: In January 2022, it was reported that the Waqf Board had approached the Gujarat High Court (HC) staking a claim on two Bet Dwarka islands. The HC, however, refused to hear the application and expressed its displeasure, saying, “Are you aware of what you are saying? How can Waqf Board claim ownership of land in Krishnanagari?” Bet Dwarka cluster comprises 8 small islands to which the Sunni Waqf Board had reportedly staked claims. They had claimed that the land on the nearby islands in Bet Dwarka belonged to the Waqf Board. It is to be noted that Bet Dwarka or Beyt Dwarka was the residence of Shri Krishna during the time He ruled Gujarat and one of the holy pilgrimage sites for Hindus.
It is also important to highlight the secular Bharatiya state’s complicity in aiding the Waqf Board in stakeclaiming any property that it deems to belong to itself. If the Waqf Board “believes” any property to be Waqf property, the onus is on the property holder to prove that it is not Waqf property. However, in a just system, it should have been the reverse.
The Waqf Board has been involved in numerous land grabs across Bharat. Furthermore, it has arbitrarily declared ownership over lands, including entire villages. It is high time the government steps in and reins in the Waqf Board. There is also an urgent need to revisit the Waqf Act enacted by Congress in keeping with its Muslim appeasement policy.
(Featured Image Source: News18)
