The resolution was adopted by the 24th Party Congress of CPI(M)
This 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the passage of the ‘Waqf Amendment Bill’ by Parliament. This legislation is an assault on the Constitution and the rights of minorities. The CPI(M) calls upon all secular people and organisations of the country to protest against this Act which will only increase communal polarization and damage the secular fabric of the nation.
The earlier Waqf Act was a legal framework governing Waqf properties (Islamic endowments) and ensuring their proper administration, protection and utilization for religious and charitable purposes. It provided guidelines for the regulation of Waqf properties, preventing their misuse and unauthorized sale.
The amended Act makes significant changes which will undermine the foundational principles laid out in the earlier Act. Through this amendment the BJP Government is pushing its Hindutva agenda, aiming to divide people. It has been repeatedly claiming that the earlier Act has been used for extensive land grab by Muslims.
Despite Islamic injunctions prohibiting non-Muslims from managing Waqf properties, the amended Act includes non-Muslims in Waqf Boards. This is an attack on the Constitutional right of the Muslims to practice their religion.
By making it mandatory that only a Muslim who can prove that he/she has followed the religion for at least five years, the amended Act is opening the way for harassment of Muslims and can actually prevent them from creating or contributing to Waqf properties. Many non-Muslims also contribute to the building of Mosques etc. and this expression of brotherhood and fraternity will no longer be possible under the amended Act.
By abolishing Section 40 of the Waqf Act, the Waqf Board will lose its authority to determine the nature of Waqf properties. Waqf properties primarily fall into four categories: Waqf by Deed (documented), Waqf by Oral Declaration (verbally declared), Waqf by Use (established through prolonged usage), and government-granted lands. Under the new amendments, the majority of Waqf properties in the country—those declared orally or through usage—will become vulnerable to government takeover.
States with the largest Waqf holdings, such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala, will face targeted appropriation of these assets through the proposed amendments.
By transferring the authority to determine Waqf properties from the Survey Commissioner to government-appointed revenue officials, the government aims to seize places of worship, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and vocational centres, thereby consolidating control over Waqf assets.
The new mandate requiring the registration of thousands of Waqf properties historically established through long-term usage exposes the government’s covert agenda to confiscate them.
By stripping the Waqf Tribunal of its powers, the Waqf Board itself will be alienated from the community it serves.
Through these amendments, the Central Government is advancing its agenda of eradicating the rights of Muslims, mirroring the exclusionary intent of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
To safeguard the secular and democratic fabric of the nation, all secular and democratic-minded citizens must unite to demand the withdrawal of this divisive Waqf Amendment Act.