BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to constitute a waqf board under the provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, and added two Hindu members to it, both of whom are affiliated to the larger RSS network.
While Indore-based Manoj Malpani, 53, has been associated with the Bajrang Dal, the other Hindu member Animesh Bhargava, 48, who hails from Raghogarh town of Guna district, is currently the BJP’s state media panelist.
Malpani, a real-estate businessman, confirmed to this newspaper that he has been associated with the RSS for four decades and was the Bajrang Dal’s Indore division convener for six years in the past. He said, “It is big responsibility. I will use my experience to bring more transparency to the board’s functioning, particularly in the management of waqf properties.”
According to sources in the Indore BJP, Malpani has helped the Sangh and allied organisations in fighting legal battles for people who have claimed harassment due to their properties being dubbed as waqf properties.
On the other hand, Bhargava, who holds an MBA, has spent 17 years in the banking sector. He told this newspaper, “If given an opportunity to bring transparency and professionalism into the Waqf Board’s operations and the associated estates and properties,
I will certainly work to plug the revenue leakages of these properties. I will use my experience to particularly ensure that the waqf properties generate the income they are worth. The same income will then be spent for the betterment and welfare of the minority community.”
His hometown Raghogarh is the hometown of ex-chief minister and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh as well. Sources in the BJP do not rule out a bigger role for the former banker in his home assembly segment, particularly when the BJP and the Bharatiya Jansangh last won it way back in 1972. On Saturday, the state government’s Backward Class and Minority Welfare Department had notified the reconstitution of the state Waqf Board. While BJP leader Sanwar Patel has been re-appointed as the board chairman, the newly constituted board will comprise 10 members.
The other members of the board include former Union minister Najma Heptulla (New Delhi), Congress MLA from Bhopal Uttar Atif Aqueel, Faizan Khan (Ujjain), Fatema Choudhary (Indore), corporator Shaista Sultan (Bhopal) and BJP corporator Shabana Khan (Ratlam), while the department commissioner will serve as an ex officio member.
The Congress has criticised the inclusion of Hindu members. Its Bhopal-Madhya MLA Arif Masood said, “Matters pertaining to the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, are still pending before the Supreme Court. Though the apex court has not stayed the Act in entirety, some matters are still pending before it. What was the urgency to reconstitute the board?”
