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Union minister Amit Shah, speaking at the debate over the Waqf Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha this evening, presented a long list of properties that he said were given for Waqf. The list included land belonging to temples, land belonging to other religions, the government and others. His point: “You cannot donate someone else’s property. You donate something which is yours”.
It was a reinforcement of the government’s contention that major lands and properties almost went to Waqf but for last-minute saves.
The Karnataka High Court, he said, had to stop grabbing of 602 sq km by Waqf.
“Properties in (Delhi’s) Lutyens zone went to Waqf, and they started taking over government land… In Tamil Nadu, a 400-year-old temple property was declared as Waqf’s. Land for a 5-star establishment was given to Waqf for 12,000 a month… Several properties belonging to different religions were declared as Waqf property, including Chandra Shekhar Azad Park in Prayagraj,’ he said.
Speaking before Mr Shah, Union minister Kiren Rijiju had said that a case going on since 1970 in Delhi involved several properties, including the Parliament building.
“The Delhi Waqf Board had claimed these… the case was in court but then the UPA denotified 123 properties and gave them to the Waqf Board,” he said.
“If we had not introduced this amendment today, even the building we are sitting in could have been claimed as Waqf property. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not come to power… several other properties would also have been de-notified,” the minister said.
Mr Shah blamed the UPA government for this situation, saying the Waqf rules were changed days before the 2014 general election.
Calling it another example of politics of appeasement, he said, “Someone goes to the US to study and comes back to see that his land is Waqf property. Can you make a church, a gurdwara, on the government land? No”.
The Telangana High Court on Wednesday halted – for 24 hours – work on 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli near the Hyderabad Central University. The interim order was passed as the court heard PILs, or public interest litigations, filed by students and the Vata Foundation.
The petitioners had sought a stay arguing that the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, or TGIIC, was cutting trees using bulldozers in violation of Supreme Court orders.
They argued that although the land had been allotted pursuant to a state order, TGIIC had to follow the top court’s orders; i.e., constitute of a committee to oversee the felling of trees.
Specifically, the top court had ruled that if the land was inhabited by wildlife the committee would have to study the impact of felling of trees for a month before reaching a decision.
The petitioners claimed the land in question is home to many species of animals and birds and, accordingly, the Vata Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, sought deemed forest status and demanded it be declared a ‘national park’ under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
However, Advocate-General Sudershan Reddy, appearing for the Telangana government, told the court the 400 acres is not recognised as a ‘forest’, a fact he stressed by pointing out high-rise buildings – with four helipads – had been built on adjacent parcels. He also argued that several areas in Hyderabad had snakes and peacocks, all of which could not be declared ‘forests’.
After hearing both sides, the division bench of the High Court, led by Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, ordered ongoing work be stopped till Thursday.
University students had launched a protest after the TGIIC began the work to clear the land of trees and rocks for its auction for the development of IT parks. The students have announced an indefinite boycott of classes until their demands are met.
The situation escalated Sunday when bulldozers arrived to flatten the land.
A confrontation ensued and the students were thrashed by the police, who accused them of obstructing government officials from doing their work.
The Telangana government has clarified it has not taken land belonging to the university, and criticised the opposition BRS and BJP for spreading lies about the land for political gains.
Stringent action will be taken against those obstructing development, the state said.
The BJP’s entry into the matter widened the political row after the BRS accused the police of manhandling the protesting students. The BRS had earlier attacked the Congress, accusing its top leader Rahul Gandhi of spreading hatred on the pretext of ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’.