Don'€™t amend Waqf Act without consulting Muslims, Badal tells Centre

Chandigarh, Aug 8 (PTI) SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday asked the BJP-led government at the Centre to refrain from taking any decision on amendment of the Waqf Act without taking the Muslim population into confidence.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday and was referred to a joint parliamentary panel after a heated debate, with the government asserting the proposed law did not intend to interfere with the functioning of mosques and the opposition calling it targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president said, "The BJP-led Government of India should refrain from taking any decision on amendment of the #WaqfAct without taking the larger Muslim population into confidence." "Since it is an issue of maintenance of Waqf properties the Muslim community should be on board vis a vis all proposed amendments and their approval is a must," said Badal in a post on X.

Badal also accused the Centre of breaking the apex gurdwara body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

"Earlier also the central government broke the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) by forming a separate Gurdwara Committee for Haryana.

"This has caused great consternation in the Sikh community and the entire community is aggrieved. Such unilateral decisions without taking minority communities into confidence lead to their alienation, so such moves cannot be allowed," he said. PTI CHS KSS KSS