PATNA: Discontentment within Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has emerged following party’s support to the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, which led to passage of the Bill.
Several Muslim leaders of JD(U) on Thursday expressed their displeasure over the party’s stand on Waqf Amendment Bill and said that they would seek legal opinion on the issue. They even threatened to take a final call on the matter after a meeting of Erada-e-Sharia (Bihar, Jharkhand & Odisha).
Former Rajya Sabha member and JD(U) general secretary Ghulam Rasool Balyawi on Thursday said that they felt deceived after JD(U) lent its support to Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, which led to passage of the Bill. “There is no difference between secular and communal forces now,” he said.
He revealed that he on behalf of Erada-e-Sharia had submitted a 31-page suggestion to Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and also tried to convince Chief Minister Nitish Kumar before the Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha. However, neither the JPC nor the CM Nitish paid heed to their suggestions, he lamented.
“We are soon going to convene a meeting of Erada-e-Sharia (Bihar, Jharkhand& Odisha), which will decide the further course of action. In addition, we are in touch with legal experts to challenge the Bill in the court,” he told the media in Patna on Thursday.
Balyawi is not alone to express his displeasure over the Bill. Former JD(U) Minority Cell president and deputy chairman of Bihar legislative council Salim Pervez said that he will soon meet Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar and apprise him of the resentment among Muslim leaders of the party over the Bill.
Earlier JD(U) MLC Gulam Gaus and former MP Asafaq Karim expressed their strong displeasure over JD(U)’s stand on Waqf Amendment Bill and said that they were hopeful that party supremo Nitish Kumar would take a different stand in the Lok Sabha. “We were shocked when we came to know about the JD(U) supported the Bill in the Lok Sabha,” they said.
Sources said that several JD(U) leaders were planning to quit the party as a mark of protest over JD(U) support to the Bill. “The party will feel the heat of the Muslims in the upcoming assembly elections due later this year,” claimed a senior JD(U) leader on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier, political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor had asked the Muslim leaders of JD(U) to quit the party if JD(U) lent its support to the Bill in the Lok Sabha. Kishor’s appeal to Muslim leaders seems to have largely influenced them.
According to caste survey conducted by the state government, Muslims constitute nearly 17.70 per cent of the state’s population. Sources in the JD(U) said that Muslims votes play a crucial role in the victory of candidates in 50 out of 243 assembly seats.
Meanwhile, the state police headquarters has sounded an alert across Bihar following the passage of Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha and subsequent apprehension of protest by some Muslim organisations. Additional director general of police (ADGP), Law &Order, Pakaj Darad said that an alert has been issued on the basis of intelligence inputs that some Muslim organisations may take out protest marches against the Waqf Amendment Bill.
