NEW DELHI: Ali Anwar Ansari, founder of the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (PMM) and a two-time former Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, has criticised the Modi government for amending the Waqf system.
He said that the move allegedly benefits large businesses and corporate houses at the expense of poor Muslim vendors and traders.
He also complained that he was not invited to give his statement before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Bill in Patna despite his request.
“The BJP-led government wants to displace small Muslim traders and businessmen who are running their business and eke out their livelihood on Waqf lands rented on nominal rent to facilitate the reach of big business and corporate houses on the Waqf land,” Ali Anwar Ansari said.
Ansari further stated that the amendments made to the Waqf system by the Modi government were not genuinely intended for the welfare of Pasmanda Muslims.
Instead, he believes they are designed to gradually establish state control over Waqf land and properties.
Contrary to the government’s assertion that the amendments aim to economically uplift marginalised Pasmanda Muslims, women, and children within the Muslim community, Ansari reacted sharply: “Had this government been a well-wisher of Pasmanda Muslims, the 'bulldozer politics' would not have been in practice in the BJP-ruled states."
"The worst sufferers in the BJP-ruled states are none other than poor Pasmanda Muslim who are either lynched in the name of love jihad or for other reasons,” he said.
“Had the government brought the amendments out of genuine concerns for Pasmanda, I would have been the first to come above party politics and supported it,” he claimed.
Pasmanda Muslims constitute around 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the country’s total Muslim population, and in several states, they make up an even greater proportion.
“The government claims now that there would be no interference of non-Muslim into the Waqf system, but the government has empowered the district collector to a great extent. Gradually, the government will establish its dominance on the Waqf land and properties for the capitalists and the corporate houses,” he alleged, adding that 99 per cent of Pasmanda Muslims are opposed to the Bill.
Describing the central government as anti-farmer, he said, “The Modi government, after 700 farmers sacrificed their lives during a year-long anti-farm laws agitation and took the Bill back. The Modi government will have to take the Bill back on the Waqf system also, as the majority of Muslims, including those who fall under the Pasmanda category, are determined to fight against it.”
He said that Pasmanda Muslims are fully aware of the government's hidden agenda behind the Bill and would not soften their electoral stance towards the BJP.
Ali Anwar Ansari is credited with championing the cause of Pasmanda Muslims across the country through his umbrella organisation, the PMM, since 1998.