TMC minister and president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s West Bengal branch, Siddiqullah Chowdhury, on Tuesday said that “Muslims will not stay quiet” if the Waqf properties are taken away.
“It is very easy to say a lot of things from AC rooms, but can anyone come down to a village and say that the Waqf property is no longer theirs? What steps will be taken? We do not see this decision of the Centre in good faith. This has forcefully been put on the Muslims,” Chowdhury said at a press conference here.
After having refused to implement the Centre’s new Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, for months, the TMC government last week accepted the law and issued directions to upload information of 82,000 waqf properties across the state on the central portal by December 5.
“The state government had previously thought something. Now, the CM (Mmata Banerjee) must be thinking of something else,” Chowdhury added, referring to the change in the stance of his government.
Chowdhury, who holds the portfolio of Mass Education Extension and Library Services, said: “ We will make our stand clear about waqf later. The wakf properties are very essential. We don’t know what will happen in the future, we do not know, but the fight will be a long and difficult one,” he added.
Meanwhile, the TMC has distanced itself from rebel MLA Humayun Kabir and his plan to lay the foundation stone of a mosque in Murshidabad on December 6, the anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992.
Chowdhury too distanced himself from Kabir’s plan. “A political leader has said certain things which have raised questions in people’s minds. We have a certain responsibility. We do not do anything or take any steps in the heat of the moment. We think before we do something so that people are not harmed. For the Muslim community, a masjid is a holy place. What we are hearing from social media is that the popular leader has said there will be a Babri Masjid in Murshidabad. The way it is being presented seems like some big explosion will happen in Bengal on December 6,” the minister said.
Hinting at a conspiracy, he added, “This seems like a conspiracy. This will not benefit the Muslim community. Masjid is not for politics.”