Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025: In the name of managing religious property of Muslims, another fascist attack by BJP-RSS on Muslim minorities through communalization
Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025: In the name of managing religious property of Muslims, another fascist attack by BJP-RSS on Muslim minorities through communalization
इस पोस्ट को हिन्दी में पढ़ने के लिए इस लिंक पर क्लिक करें
– Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI)
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 has finally been passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) have shamelessly voted in favor of this bill, once again coming to the rescue of the fascists. Those who hoped that the presence of Naidu and Nitish in the NDA would tone down the aggressiveness of the fascists now find their hopes dashed.
On the one hand, Hindutva fascist mobs are continuously targeting Muslim religious sites and festivals, creating an atmosphere of communal tension in society. On the other hand, the fascist Modi government is moving ahead unchecked in its ideological goal of stripping Muslims of their rights and reducing them to second-class citizens. Through this very process, the RSS-BJP are attempting to advance their ongoing conspiracy of communalizing society. The BJP’s “Abki Baar 400 Paar” slogan in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections turned into a joke as they were reduced to 240 seats. Certainly, this result was not an indicator of a decline in the fascist threat. However, it did deal a temporary blow to the BJP. In response, the Sangh Parivar prepared to stir up a new wave of communal frenzy and systematically communalize the broader population. From the Kumbh Mela to Eid, from a flood of fascist propaganda films like Chhava to waves of fake news on social media—this is all part of that plan. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 is the next step in this fascist conspiracy. It is important for conscientious, sensitive, democratic, and egalitarian-minded people to understand this.
Speaking in Parliament in support of the bill, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the aim of the amendment is not to increase state interference in Muslim religious affairs but to improve the administration of their religious and charitable properties. He presented it as a step toward making the management of Waqf properties more transparent and accountable and eliminating corruption. He further claimed that this bill would benefit poor Muslims, Muslim women, Pasmanda (backward) Muslims, etc. Is this claim true? Let us examine it.
If the Home Minister is truly concerned about corruption in the management of religious and charitable properties, then why does this bill target only one religion and its people? If Amit Shah were speaking the truth, he would have introduced a bill with provisions to ensure transparency and accountability in the administration of properties belonging to all religions. After all, it is his party that has been constantly raising a ruckus over a “Uniform Civil Code” and “One Nation, One Law”! Doesn’t Shah know that temples, monasteries, gurdwaras, churches, and ashrams across the country have amassed immense wealth in the name of religious faith, and that their administration is also rife with corruption? In fact, the wealthiest of these are Hindu temple trusts and boards, whose amassed fortunes have raised questions for decades. Similarly, the wealth held by various gurdwaras, churches, and monasteries is beyond calculation. While Shah cited statistics about Waqf properties in Parliament, he cunningly remained silent on the assets of these other institutions. So, the only thing giving Amit Shah stomach cramps is the “proper administration” of Islamic institutions, while he has no interest in probing the far greater corruption and wealth hoarded by Hindu temples, mahants, and ashrams. Clearly, the government has singled out a specific religion for different treatment. The aim is obvious: to render Muslims second-class citizens, intensify their oppression, and keep the fire of communal frenzy burning so that the RSS-BJP can benefit electorally.
As for the supposed benefits to poor Muslims, Muslim women, and Pasmanda Muslims—Amit Shah’s claim has no basis in fact or logic. If he were genuinely concerned about the poor, women, and Dalits, why doesn’t he pursue a similar “democratization” within Hindu religious institutions? The conditions of the poor, women, and Dalits are far worse there. It is clear that this is just a rhetorical ploy to divide the Muslim population under a “divide and rule” strategy and make them easier to suppress. No democratization or secularization has any real meaning unless it is implemented equally across all religions and their institutions. In any case, the bill has no direct connection with poor Muslims, Muslim women, or Pasmanda Muslims. If one argues that these groups might benefit indirectly from general democratization, then Amit Shah should first turn his attention to the state of those Hindu religious institutions where “babas” are accused of raping women, where Dalits are barred from entering temples, and naked corruption and debauchery run rampant—constantly mocking the ideals of democracy and secularism.
It is worth noting that there was already a central law for the administration of Muslim religious and charitable properties. But there is no central law for the administration of properties belonging to Hindus or other religions. So why isn’t the BJP, which talks so much about a “Uniform Law” for everyone, introducing a central bill for transparent management of properties across all religions? The reason is simple: these fascists have no intention of eliminating corruption from religious property management. They merely want to create new issues under their communal-fascist political program to spread hatred against Muslims and deepen communal polarization in society. That is why the Waqf Amendment Bill must be seen as a continuation of their fascist strategy of presenting Muslims as the perennial “enemy.”
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 also contains a provision to include non-Muslims in Waqf boards and councils. The BJP claims this is a step toward making Waqf institutions more diverse and inclusive. That’s great—so why hasn’t the idea of diversifying and making the management of temples, ashrams, and monasteries inclusive occurred to them? Would they be willing to include Muslims or Christians in the management of temple property? Obviously not. In those cases, they will suddenly remember “Hindu faith” and proclaim that outsiders cannot be involved in religious institutions meant for Hindus. How can their wealth and assets be investigated? They will shout on all the fascist hate-mongering Godi media channels: “Is it now a crime to be a Hindu in this country?” No, it isn’t. But the BJP is certainly turning being a Muslim into a crime in this country.
The amendment also prohibits non-Muslims from donating their property as Waqf. There are various instances in history where even non-Muslims have donated their property as Waqf. If a Hindu wants to donate his land to build a graveyard, then why should such a donation be forbidden? On the one hand, non-Muslims are being allowed to manage Muslim religious properties, while on the other hand, they are being barred from donating to them! The root of this hypocrisy lies in the BJP-RSS’s anti-Muslim fascist ideology.
The fascists have further demonstrated this anti-Muslim mindset in another provision of the bill: any person who converts to Islam is barred from donating their property as Waqf for five years. Similarly, the removal of the “Waqf by user” clause from the Waqf law is another clear reflection of BJP’s hateful and exclusionary politics. Under this provision, many religious places, such as mosques, shrines and graveyards, had been considered as Waqf properties even though there were no official documents to establish them as such. But with the removal of this provision, the legitimacy of all muslim religious places can be questioned. In this way, the Sangh Parivar is being given complete freedom to raise new disputes such as Kashi, Mathura, Sambhal, Ajmer and many more in the coming days.
The hasty passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 shows that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are taking their rabidly anti-Muslim, communal-fascist strategy to a new level. After witnessing a reduction in their seats in last year’s Lok Sabha elections, they have understood that unless a constant atmosphere of hatred is maintained in society, the worsening unemployment, sky-high inflation, and severe economic crisis may ultimately push them out of governmental power. This is why new issues are being deliberately stirred up every other day. Sometimes a mosque becomes the center of controversy, sometimes the issue of namaz is heated up, and other times it is a dargah. Even festivals like Eid, Ramzan, Holi, and Ram Navami have become opportunities for these fascists to stoke communal tensions for their own benefit.
The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India strongly opposes the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025. This bill is part of the Hindutva strategy to spread hatred against Muslims, discriminate against them in the name of religion, and reduce them to second-class citizens. We warn the people of the country against the BJP-Sangh Parivar’s communal-fascist conspiracy to divide them in the name of religion, and we call for the ironclad unity of working people across all religions. Investigating the assets of religious institutions, conducting transparent audits, bringing their affairs under state regulation, and ensuring that people from all religions are included in the committees of such institutions—these steps are not inherently right or wrong. However, if such state/government regulation is not extended equally to the institutions of all religions, then it is clearly an attack on the rights of a specific religion and its followers, an act of discrimination, and a conspiracy to reduce them to second-class citizens. A truly secular state can certainly provide for the democratic and egalitarian regulation of religious institutions and their affairs, but such provisions can only be considered genuinely secular and democratic if they are applied to all religions without discrimination. This is precisely why the Waqf Bill 2025 introduced by the BJP government is not a democratic or secular bill, but a fascist and communal one. Its objective is to maintain a constant atmosphere of communal frenzy in the country and to reduce the Muslim population to the status of second-class citizens. We strongly oppose this bill and appeal to the broader masses to recognize its true character and the fascist designs that lie behind it. The target is not only the Muslim minority population, but also the general working class and the ordinary middle class, because the communalization it will bring about will ultimately harm the common people of the country the most.
