My Comments posted on Economic Times Article:
It is a long term planning by Indian National Congress as to how to grab Muslim Waqf Land. Step be step, through stealth and open fraud on Muslim voters, it has got the entire All India Awkaf under its thumb. This is to cover the possibilities that Congress may not be ruling in many states of the union. The centralized plan was sold to Muslim with rosy promise that in a centralized government organization backed by suitable central laws, the Awkaf land will be protected. However, protected for whose benefit? The entire machinery of government managed Awkaf Board is riddled with corruption that goes to party funding. And the new legislation is nothing but a ruse to bring entire Awkaf properties available to be exploited to line the pockets of those appointees. Muslims never had any faith in bureaucracy and politicians that they will ever do any favor to the community and that stand is perennially vindicated and confirmed by constant cases of fraud and land grab and sale of Awkaf properties. In the recent developments, Salman Khurshid and K. Rehman are in the forefront of duping Muslims into creating a mammoth holy cow that will be milked for the benefit of Congress appointees and government bureaucrats. Muslim community will be hapless bystanders. This is daylight robbery; nothing less. All Awkaf must revert to Muslim community, through their own independent organizations, like Muslim Personal Law Board. If Sikhs can independently manage their Wqaf, why Muslim should not?
It is a long term planning by Indian National Congress as to how to grab Muslim Waqf Land. Step be step, through stealth and open fraud on Muslim voters, it has got the entire All India Awkaf under its thumb. This is to cover the possibilities that Congress may not be ruling in many states of the union. The centralized plan was sold to Muslim with rosy promise that in a centralized government organization backed by suitable central laws, the Awkaf land will be protected. However, protected for whose benefit? The entire machinery of government managed Awkaf Board is riddled with corruption that goes to party funding. And the new legislation is nothing but a ruse to bring entire Awkaf properties available to be exploited to line the pockets of those appointees. Muslims never had any faith in bureaucracy and politicians that they will ever do any favor to the community and that stand is perennially vindicated and confirmed by constant cases of fraud and land grab and sale of Awkaf properties. In the recent developments, Salman Khurshid and K. Rehman are in the forefront of duping Muslims into creating a mammoth holy cow that will be milked for the benefit of Congress appointees and government bureaucrats. Muslim community will be hapless bystanders. This is daylight robbery; nothing less. All Awkaf must revert to Muslim community, through their own independent organizations, like Muslim Personal Law Board. If Sikhs can independently manage their Wqaf, why Muslim should not?
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
http://economictimes.
Not just Narendra Modi, Maulvis now against Rahul Gandhi and Congress on the Waqf land issue
By Rohini Singh, ET Bureau | 9 Sep, 2013, 05.00AM IST
READ MORE ON » waqf land | Syed Kalbe Jawad | Shahi Asafi mosque | samajwadi party | Salman Khurshid | Saeed Naqvi | Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi or his key aides did not respond to questions from ET.
NEW DELHI: Think UP politics, think the importance of Muslim vote for Congress (18 per cent-plus of the state's electorate) in an election where Narendra Modi
is BJP's poll mascot, and now think of the potential political
consequences of a hugely influential UP Muslim cleric promising this:
"We will campaign against Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders and explain why Muslims shouldn't vote for them." That was Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad, who leads the Friday prayers at the Shahi Asafi mosque in Lucknow's Imambada and who once mobilised over a million people in a protest against the US and Israel.
Worse, for Congress, he comes from Jais district in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi's constituency. Amethi's Muslim population is around 20 per cent. Rahul Gandhi's victory margin in the last Lok Sabha elections was around 3 lakh; no party had put up a significant candidate against him. Maulana Jawad promises to begin his campaign from September 16.
"Kalbe Jawad is a mass leader. You can ignore him during peace time but not during a time of war. The timing of this agitation is significant given that it's coming six months before general elections," said Saeed Naqvi, commentator and a close observer of Muslim politics. Jawad and several other influential Muslim clerics, some of whom come from other politically crucial states like Bihar and Maharashtra, ET spoke to are all agitated over what they say is the Congress leadership's insufficient efforts at addressing both general complaints about alleged grabbing of Waqf land and the "inadequate" new Waqf law, as well as a specific grievance relating to two plots in Delhi.
The two plots in Delhi, Muslim leaders say, housed a Sunni mosque and a Shia shrine. ET had earlier reported — on August 27 — on Muslim leaders' disaffection on this issue and their negotiations with Congress leaders. "Congress hasn't kept any of its promises," Maulana Jawad told ET. "They can't take us for granted," said Maulana Hafiz Nadeem Siddiqui, a powerful Muslim cleric heading Jamiat Ulema E Hind in Maharashtra. "Congress (in Maharashtra) is involved in 80 per cent of Waqf property destruction," he said.
Rahul Gandhi or his key aides did not respond to questions from ET. Senior Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid said while they acknowledge there are grievances, they do not see how agitating against Congress will help the Muslim cause. "Will an NDA government be more helpful? Has the Samajwadi Party helped Muslims secure substantive gains?" asked Khurshid.
Rahman Khan, UPA-2's minority affairs minister, said while he respects the clerics' views, "everything they say cannot become the norm".
Worse, for Congress, he comes from Jais district in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi's constituency. Amethi's Muslim population is around 20 per cent. Rahul Gandhi's victory margin in the last Lok Sabha elections was around 3 lakh; no party had put up a significant candidate against him. Maulana Jawad promises to begin his campaign from September 16.
"Kalbe Jawad is a mass leader. You can ignore him during peace time but not during a time of war. The timing of this agitation is significant given that it's coming six months before general elections," said Saeed Naqvi, commentator and a close observer of Muslim politics. Jawad and several other influential Muslim clerics, some of whom come from other politically crucial states like Bihar and Maharashtra, ET spoke to are all agitated over what they say is the Congress leadership's insufficient efforts at addressing both general complaints about alleged grabbing of Waqf land and the "inadequate" new Waqf law, as well as a specific grievance relating to two plots in Delhi.
The two plots in Delhi, Muslim leaders say, housed a Sunni mosque and a Shia shrine. ET had earlier reported — on August 27 — on Muslim leaders' disaffection on this issue and their negotiations with Congress leaders. "Congress hasn't kept any of its promises," Maulana Jawad told ET. "They can't take us for granted," said Maulana Hafiz Nadeem Siddiqui, a powerful Muslim cleric heading Jamiat Ulema E Hind in Maharashtra. "Congress (in Maharashtra) is involved in 80 per cent of Waqf property destruction," he said.
Rahul Gandhi or his key aides did not respond to questions from ET. Senior Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid said while they acknowledge there are grievances, they do not see how agitating against Congress will help the Muslim cause. "Will an NDA government be more helpful? Has the Samajwadi Party helped Muslims secure substantive gains?" asked Khurshid.
Rahman Khan, UPA-2's minority affairs minister, said while he respects the clerics' views, "everything they say cannot become the norm".
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http://epaper.timesofindia.
