Hyderabad: City-based activist Lubna Sarwath on Saturday, August 31 questioned the language barrier imposed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to raise objections on the Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill 2024.
In a letter to the JPC, the activist asked why the contents of the bill are not available in vernacular languages such as Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam etc. “It is ridiculous that the replies have to be sent only in English or Hindi. I a country where the Waqf belongs to a spiritual and religious exercise of Muslims,” the activist lamented.
The Bill will affect every Muslim either as a donor or beneficiary. The beneficiaries and donors may even be non-Muslims. “Recently a person from the Hindu community approached me stating they want to donate for waqf. The Bill will affect about 14 percent of the Indian population, hence the JPC can’t force people to reply only in Hindi or English.”
The public has been invited to testify before the committee; however, if someone from the Telugu state wants to testify in his or her vernacular language, they will not be heard. The committee can’t deny objections in vernacular languages since the Constitution of India recognises them.
The activist further questioned why the Waqf (board) Amendment Bill has not been published in vernacular languages, given that it will affect a significant percentage of the population. Sarwat stressed that the JPC must translate the Bill and release it.
Raising concerns on the time limit provided for raising objections over the Bill, the activist deemed 15 days insufficient for a massive exercise involving the spiritual and socio-economic aspects.
There is a need for the Bill to be translated into vernaculars which could help the public to understand its contents. She further stressed that the language barrier violates the right to freedom of speech and expression further raising concern about people from southern states who may not be fluent in English or Hindi.
Earlier this month, the Telangana Waqf Board became the first across India to reject the Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill 2024. A meeting of the state Waqf Board, presided by Chairman Syed Azmatullah Husseni and attended by seven members including Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, resolved to reject the proposed amendments to the Waqf Act. Owaisi said that the Telangana State Waqf Board became the first in the country to oppose the “unconstitutional” Waqf Amendment Bill. He thanked chief minister A Revanth Reddy for his support in opposing the Bill.
The board rejected the Bill as a retrograde step to target the Muslim community and Waqf institutions and condemned the divisive agenda being pushed through the controversial Bill.
It also resolved to meet the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill to present the requisite document/data. It decided to meet all Chairpersons/CEOs of Waqf Boards of states ruled by non-BJP parties.
According to a statement released after the meeting, the Waqf Board had gone through carefully and diligently the proposed Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, clause by clause, and had also discussed the issue with legal experts and administrators. It said that it was convinced about the harmful and damaging effects of the provisions of the Bill and passed a resolution rejecting the proposed amendments.
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