BJP stages protest in Belagavi against Waqf Board claims

Party members urge the Congress government to withdraw notices to farmers, abolish the board

Members of the BJP district unit staged a protest against the Waqf Board and the State government across several districts in the region on Monday.

The activists gathered at the Rani Chennamma Circle in Belagavi and marched to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, shouting slogans and holding placards. They submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan and dispersed.

The memorandum, addressed to the State government, urges it to withdraw all Waqf notices issued to farmers and other property owners, cancel all gazette notifications that document Waqf donations and abolish the Waqf Board all together.

The former Minister Murgesh Nirani, who addressed the protestors, demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan.

He accused the Congress government of turning Karnataka, a State that is a land of peace and harmony, into a tense region by trying to snatch farmland in the guise of reclaiming Waqf land. The State government is using the Waqf Board to push people into a state of anxiety.

This is contrary to the efforts being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is trying to amend the Waqf Act to remove the possibilities of irregularities in the laws related to Muslim endowments and regulate the charities better.

All property donated by Muslims for community welfare belong to the country and they should neither be politicised nor misused. That is what the Prime Minister is trying to do, he said.

The Bill, once passed, will stop all attempts by State governments to take over public property, Mr. Nirani said.

He said that Mr. Siddaramaiah is behind all such attempts as Minister Mr. Khan is going around holding Waqf adalats in the name of the Chief Minister.

Mr. Nirani said that over 1,500 acres of farmland of Honnawad in Vijayapura district have been declared as Waqf property by the Tahsildar. The Hanuman temple in Kadkol village of Haveri district is among the over 1,650 acres of land claimed by the board. The Kukanur Town Panchayat office in Koppal has been claimed by the board.

Some officers of the board have even claimed the Vidhana Soudha as Waqf property. Farmland belonging to the Chikkamma Chikkadevi temple in Mahadevpur village, the 1,500-year-old Virakta Math of Sindgi in Vijayapura district have also been claimed. These are not acceptable, Mr. Nirani said.

He said that the Congress government has withdrawn the notices following protests by the BJP.

Party district president Subhash Patil warned of a State-wide agitation if the government did not stop the board from making such claims.

The former MLAs Anil Benake and Sanjay Patil, the former MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath and others spoke.

Leaders Geeta Sutar, Satish Appajigol, Basavaraj Hundri, Ramesh Deshpande, Dhananjaya Jadhav, Yuvraj Jadhav, Murugendra Gouda Patil, general secretary Mallikarjun Madammanavar, Irayya Khota, Rajasekhar Doni and others were present.

Published - November 04, 2024 08:34 pm IST