By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: There have been series of attacks, targeting Salman Khursheed, the Union Minister of Minority Affairs, allegedly over certain provisions of the Wakf Amendment Bill 2010, which as claimed by several Muslim leaders, are “against the interests of Muslims and Awqaaf in India.” But in a frank interview with Md. Ali of TwoCircles.net, Salman Khursheed hits back at his detractors for what he regards as their attempts to “create smokescreen and deliberate confusion regarding the Bill” and thereby taking a political mileage over it.
Khursheed also implied that he is being targeted not because of the merits of the Bill but because of “certain political events in our country (read cabinet reshuffle).” As the real politic goes, it’s an open secret that the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been a bone of contention between Khursheed and K Rahman Khan, the present Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
Just because cabinet reshuffle is an imminent possibility, there is a set of people who are trying to discredit Salman Khursheed in the hope that the MMA will be taken back from him. At such an important political juncture, Wakf Amendment Bill 2010 has become a weapon for Khursheed’s critic, many of whom have gone public with their criticism of the Wakf Bill blaming Salman Khursheed for its alleged discrepancies.
Over all the attempt has been to send a message to the Congress led UPA government that the Muslim community is not happy with the way the way the Bill is being handled blaming Khursheed for its potential political fall out for the Congress party.
Since last one month Salman Khursheed has been targeted by various quarters ranging from both the factions of Jamiat Ulema Hind led by Mahmood Madani and Arshad Madani. Even few members of the All India Muslim personal Law Board tried to raise alarm in the Board’s meeting in Hyderabad last month.
Some of the objections raised, are that the word community has been left undefined by the Bill and hence has been left to the potential misuse by public institutions like Court in terms of interpretation; registration of Waqf properties as envisioned by the Bill will dilute the autonomy of the Waqf; the Bill ignores several of the vital recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Wakf without having any discussions in the Lok Sabha as to why those recommendations were not accepted.
But Khursheed, who gave one by one answer to all the queries, argued that none of his critics are concerned at all about the actual merits of the Bill; had it been so they would have met him or gone to the select committee with their proposals and suggestions.
Suspecting the intentions of the critics of the Bill, Khursheed said, “I am really surprised that this open debate is happening outside the select committee. The same people, who are criticizing the Bill and me, have met me for other purposes but they never took up their objections Bill.”
“What amazes me is that most of the people who have criticized me and the Bill have talked about it at every platform except the Committee which is the suitable place for every civilized person to register their objections regarding the Bill. Why people don’t go to the Committee with their suggestions?” questioned the Lawyer turned politician turned playwright whose Sons of Babur is being staged and read across the country.
Khursheed responds to objections
“I have repeatedly said that the Bill will be and must be Sharia compliant. In my letter to the president of the AIMPLB, Maulana Syed Rabe Hasan Nadvi also I have assured that the Bill won’t have any provision which will violate the way Sharia envisions Wakf,” said the Minister of Minority Affairs.
“Then I am also confident because the select Committee of Rajya Sabha has eminent members like Saifuddin Soz. There is also some body on the Committee who is a member of the AIMPLB. I am sure they will take care of every concern of the community,” added the Minister.
Over the issue of the word community Khursheed said that the word community is the literal translation of Millat. ‘But if people are not satisfied with this they should go to the Select Committee which at present has the Bill, and suggest that the word Muslim should be added in the Bill,” added the visibly irritated but confident Salman Khursheed.
The JPC had recommended that the compulsory survey of the Wakf properties should take into account every Wakf property in the post 1947 period but the Bill drops it. Khursheed replied saying that, “we have to be practical in terms of formulating law. We can’t dig the entire Delhi because it’s just not feasible now. Yes, the burning Committee has pointed out around hundred or so properties which will be denotified soon.”
On the registration of Wakf properties Khursheed said that, “here we are talking about registration with Wakf Board and not with any other authority.”