DAMMS calls for withdrawal of Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, April 08 2025: Delhi Association of Manipur Muslim Students (DAMMS) condemned the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 in its entirety and demanded its immediate repeal.

In a release, DAMMS urged the government to engage in genuine dialogue with Muslim stakeholders and civil societies.

Pointing out that India's strength lies in its diversity, and any law that undermines the rights of one community sets a dangerous precedent for all, DAMMS called upon all concerned citizens, constitutional scholars, civil society organisations, and human rights defenders to voice their opposition to the 'unconstitutional' legislation.

Pledging support to all legal and civic efforts aimed at restoring justice and protecting the constitutional rights of all marginalised communities, DAMMS pointed out that erosion of any community's rights is ultimately an erosion of the collective democratic fabric.

"The Waqf (Amendment) Act is not merely a legal amendment it is a test of our constitutional morality and commitment to the principles of justice, equality, and fraternity," the release cautioned.

"Since the ascendency of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allied coalition to power in 2014, India's domestic political landscape has witnessed a perceptible shift marked by systemic marginalisation of religious and linguistic minorities.

This marginalisation has manifested through state legislations, extrajudicial actions by state institutions, the empowerment of vigilante groups, and the proliferation of state-sponsored ideological narratives.

These mechanisms collectively aim to redefine India's pluralistic ethos, replacing it with a homogenised, majoritarian vision," it rued.

Stating that BJP, as a political entity, has pursued an ideological project that seeks to reconfigure the Indian nation-state into a Hindu Rashtra- a theocratic reinterpretation of India's civilizational past, DAMMS said that this ideological thrust entails a re-imagination of the Indian polity centred on Hindu cultural supremacy, which, by implication, excludes communities that do not conform to this imagined civilizational ideal.

Consequently, religious minorities such as Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, as well as smaller indigenous communities, are increasingly portrayed as cultural and political 'outsiders' within the national narrative.

Muslims, being the largest religious minority in India, have been immediate and consistent targets ever since the BJP came to power, it added.

Asserting that the ideological framework has been operationalised through a series of legislative and administrative interventions - ranging from the crim-inalisation of Triple Talaq (2019) and the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (2019) to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, DAMMS alleged that it has been accompanied by targeted actions such as the demolition of Muslim-owned properties, the vilification of historical monuments and religious institutions, and the delegation of punitive authority to vigilante groups often under the guise of cow protection or anti-conversion laws.

"Numerous Muslim lives have been claimed by the cow vigilant groups, and yet there has been a persistent absence of justice or accountability for these incidents.

Such patterns of selective enforcement and legal disenfranchisement have left Muslims particularly vulnerable to institutionalised discrimination and deepening social alienation.

Mainstream media outlets have further entrenched this hegemonic narrative by echoing state rhetoric and vilifying dissent.

Those who question the government's actions or its ideological agenda are frequently labelled 'anti-national' - a rhetorical tactic that delegitimises opposition and undermines democratic discourse," the release elaborated.

Moreover, it pointed out that the manner in which restrictions have been imposed on Muslims on Eid celebrations and Friday prayers by state authorities in certain BJP-ruled states starkly reflects a dreadful commitment of the authorities to ensure marginalisation and exclude Muslims from participation in the public sphere.

"This denial of political agency to Muslims exemplifies what Giorgio Agamben describes as 'bare life'.

And, such political trajectory increasingly reflects the model of 'Ethnic Democracy', a concept developed by Sammy Smooha based on Israel's political system.

Rooted in majoritarian ethnic nationalism - defined by racial, linguistic, religious, or cultural identity- this model fosters a strong sense of belonging and often superiority among the majority, DAMMS explained, adding that minorities are viewed as threats to the nation's integrity, resulting in a two-tiered citizenship where the majority enjoys greater rights, both de jure and de facto.

Given this political development, does it signify what political scientist, Atul Kohli calls the 'success of India's democracy' or 'Indian exceptionalism' as termed by other, it questioned.

Within this broader context of exclusionary politics, the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 is far from being a benign administrative reform.

Rather, it constitutes part of a systemic attempt to dilute and erode the sanctity of the religious institution like Waqf.

The Act poses a grave threat to the independence of Waqf institutions and, more worryingly, includes clauses that would easily enable the conversion of Waqf properties to non-Waqf status through state intervention.

This legislation now officially titled the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development (UMEED) Act, 2025, represents a significant overreach by the state into the religious and communal affairs of India's Muslim population, directly violating the rights to equality, justice, and religious freedom enshrined in Articles 14, 15, 25, 26, and 300A of the Indian Constitution, the release denounced.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 introduces sweeping changes that strip the autonomy of Waqf boards, transferring critical decision-making powers such as the determination of Waqf property status from community-led bodies to government officials, notably district collectors.

This shift not only centralises authority in the hands of the state but also opens the door to potential misuse and appropriation of Waqf properties, which span over 8.8 lakh assets nationwide, including 6.2 lakh graveyards, mosques, and agricultural lands.

With more than 73,000 of these properties already mired in disputes, the law risks exacerbating tensions rather than resolving them.

The abolition of Waqf by User in the new Act puts undue advantages to the state to encroach upon the Waqf properties.

The release also strongly condemned the inclusion of two non-Muslim members under the clause 10 (g) of the new Act in Waqf councils and tribunals, which is in the gross violation of Article 26 of the Indian Constitution.

It is a deliberate attempt that dilutes the community's right to manage its own religious endowments.

This provision, coupled with the removal of the Waqf boards' authority to independently declare properties as Waqf, signals a deliberate attempt to erode the sanctity of these charitable institutions, which have served as a cornerstone of Muslim welfare for centuries.

The Act conveniently ignores the voices of the very community it purports to benefit.

While the endowment boards of other religious communities enjoy the freedom to manage their own boards, restricting the Muslims to manage their own Waqf Board is completely partisan in nature.

Furthermore, this law is designed to polarise communities and consolidate governmental control over valuable land assets, estimated to worth around Rs 12 lakh crore.

The scrapping of Section 40, once hailed as a safeguard for Waqf autonomy, and the empowerment of bureaucrats over elected representatives, reflects a troubling trend of state overreach that threatens not just Muslims but the pluralistic fabric of India itself.

While the Act is in the complete violation of the constitutional rights of the Muslims, these deliberate infringements will be meted out to other religious minorities in the country in near future.

This new UMEED Act (2025) is a part of the larger design of the current regime to create division among the citizens, marginalising the minorities by stripping their political, social and economic capital, the release condemned.

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