KOZHIKODE: IUML has asserted that the Waqf Bill will affect not only Muslims but all the minorities in the country. The constituents of the INDIA bloc are against the Bill precisely because of the reason, said IUML state president Panakkad Syed Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal .
IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty told reporters n Malappuram on Wednesday that certain vested interests are connecting the Bill to some other issues. “The Bill is an intrusion into the rights of all religious minorities in the country.,” he said.
The Munambam issue can be settled amicably in Kerala but some political groups have linked it with the Waqf Bill, Kunhalikutty said. The IUML leaders added that the party would approach the court against the Bill.
Meanwhile, KNM Markazudawa has said that the organisation will ‘isolate’ those who support the Bill or abstain from the voting. In a statement, the organisation said that true secularists are against the Bill. The parties like the JD (U) and the TDP have supported the Bill but the people of the states will certainly show their place. The release also came out strongly against the Christian organisations that supported the Bill.
Jama’at-e-Islami amir P Mujaeeb Rehman said that the Bill is an affront to the constitutional rights of Muslims. The move to allow the government to freely handle waqf properties is a violation of the spirit of the Constitution, he said.
Samatha Kerala Jem-Iyyathulm Ulama president Syed Muhammad Jiffiri Muthukoya Thangal said that vested interests are trying to reap political benefits from the controversy. In a statement he said the proceedings in Parliament over the issue are making the Muslims in the country anxious. He expected secular forces to act judiciously in Parliament.
Wisdom Islamic Organisation said the intervention of secular forces in the issue should be vigilant. There should not be an emotional response to the issue, said T K Ashraf, the general secretary of the organisation.