Minister Kiren Rijiju tables Waqf Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha 

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Thursday tabled the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha after the Lok Sabha clears it after a marathon debate. Rijiju appealed to the Congress and other Opposition parties to support the Waqf Bill.

After the introduction of the bill in the Upper House, the Union Minister asserted that the proposed legislation is not against Muslims or intended to hurt their religious feelings, but seeks to improve the functioning of Waqf properties, address the complexities, ensure transparency and introduce technology-driven management.

The Bill aims to include all the Muslims sects in the Waqf board, Rijiju said. 

The minister informed the Upper House that there were 4.9 lakh Waqf properties in 2004, which have now increased to 8.72 lakh. “...In 2006, if the Sachar committee had estimated the earnings from 4.9 lakh Waqf properties at Rs 12,000 crore, then you can imagine the income these properties must be generating now."

Out Of the 125 NDA MPs, 98 are from the BJP. Its ally in Bihar Janata Dal-United (JDU) has four MPS. Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has three, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has two and one each member from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and the RLD. The NDA is also confident of getting the support of six nominated MPS in the Upper House and single parties, including Asom Gana Parishad.

The Opposition's INDIA Bloc has 88 MPs. Out of these, the Congress has 27 MPs, 13 from the Trinamool Congress.

Meanwhile, Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is not part of the INDIA bloc, has seven members. It will be interesting to see how the BJD MPs will vote in the Upper House.

The government proposes to rename the Waqf Bill as Unified Waqf Management Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Bill.

"The government has introduced the Bill with a good intention, and thus renamed it as 'UMEED'. No one should have any problem with the name," the minister Rijiju added.