Waqf Bill effect: Resignations from persons claiming allegiance to JD(U) continue

Patna: The controversy over support to the Waqf Bill continued to cast its shadow on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Friday, with at least one more person claiming allegiance to the party coming out with his "resignation" in protest against the stand.

However, JD(U) national spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad maintained that the reported resignations were "bogus" as the signatories "never held any post in the organisation", and asserted "the party rank and file stands rock solid behind the NDA's step that will benefit crores of poor Muslims".

Prasad's averment came in the backdrop of reports in a section of the media of the "resignation" of Tabrez Siddiqui, who claimed to be a "state general secretary of JD(U)'s minority cell".

Earlier, on Thursday, at least two persons, Mohammad Qasim Ansari from East Champaran and Nawaz Malik from Jamui, had shared letters of their "resignations" on social media, triggering speculations of a crisis in the JD(U).

Prasad insisted that "we have credible information that one of the persons enacting the resignation drama is associated with another outfit, while the other had fought the last assembly polls as an Independent".

"There are many Muslim leaders of standing in the party and if they have any serious misgivings, it will be a matter of concern. But, that is not the situation. There seems to be some design behind the farce that has been going on since yesterday," Prasad said.

On Thursday, at least two well-known JD(U) leaders – national general secretary Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi and Bihar Shia Waqf Board Chairman Syed Afzal Abbas – had said that the Bill passed by Parliament did not take into account many of the suggestions offered by leaders of the community, when the draft was before the Joint Parliamentary Committee.

The two leaders, however, did not explicitly criticise the party leadership for supporting the bill brought by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

Nonetheless, disgruntled elements in the party are of the view that the stance of the JD(U), on which BJP depends for surviving in power at the Centre, could have serious consequences in the assembly polls due later this year.

Despite being a BJP ally for decades, the JD(U) has been getting a portion of Muslim votes, owing to the chief minister's image of a "secular" leader.

A JD(U) functionary, who did not wish to be identified, claimed that a meeting of the minority cell had been scheduled on Friday, but “it got cancelled at the eleventh hour out of fear that the chinks in the armour would get exposed".

Meanwhile, the RJD, the main opposition party, has come out with a stinging post on X with a morphed photo.

In the photograph, the JD(U) supremo is shown donning khaki shorts and a black cap, worn usually by volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's parent organisation.

The caption on X reads "RSS certified Chief Minister Cheat-ish Kumar", with the hashtag ##WaqfAmendmentBill.

RSS सर्टिफ़ाइड मुख्यमंत्री चीटीश कुमार!#waqf #WaqfAmendmentBill pic.twitter.com/RscPaClA7d

— Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) April 4, 2025