Centre not keeping states in the loop about waqf bill: Mamata
Times of India | 3 December 2024
123 Kolkata: Centre was not keeping states in the loop about the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, CM Mamata Banerjee said in the Bengal assembly on Monday.
"They want to introduce it during Parliament's budget session," she said, for which "Bengal assembly brought in this resolution to protest as Centre was not discussing anything with the state". Bengal had appealed to share its views with the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on waqf, but they did not respond, Banerjee said.
"The opposition boycotted the JPC. The JPC was supposed to come to Kolkata but did not come. Why are they afraid of Kolkata?" she said.
The CM took a sharp dig at BJP for bringing in the waqf bill and asked: "Is it only for disliking a particular religion?"
"You don't have two-thirds majority in Parliament to make the amendment. Already, Muslims are protesting against this ulterior design. Can you think of interfering with the property which is in the name of Balaji Trust or the property of Ramakrishna Mission? Do you have that guts? Or can you do it with Christians or one with the Golden Temple? Why are you irked with minorities?" she said.
Banerjee questioned why minorities were not allowed in CAA and reminded about NRC and the detention camps in Assam. "What is the need for a Uniform Civil Code? This is to show that there is no plurality — I am only singular. Can you take away the religious rights of SCs and STs?" she asked.
The majority population must protect the interest of minorities and minorities must respect the majority, the CM said. "We do not make any division between Hindus and Muslims," she added.
Banerjee reiterated how she protected the properties of Ramakrishna Mission and stated that there was a dargah inside Belur Math, which existed before the Math came up, according to monks.
The CM said she lodged a complaint during the Left Front regime against Waqf Board for major irregularities and now things were streamlined with a retired judge — Justice Sahidullah Munsi now heading it and earlier there was Justice Abdul Ghani.