Waqf Amendment Act Sparks Nationwide Protests, Legal Challenges, And Political Fallout Across India

The Waqf Amendment Act, which purportedly seeks to “modernise” and “streamline” the administration of waqf properties—Muslim religious endowments—through state oversight and provisions for non-Muslim members on waqf boards, has been vociferously opposed by Muslim rights groups who warn that the law will undermine religious autonomy and could lead to state encroachment on religious properties.

Upon the passing of the Bill in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, thousands protested the law from large gatherings outside mosques to wearing black armbands after Friday prayers in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhopal, and Ahmedabad. In districts such as Muzaffarnagar and Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, police hit protestors with legal notices and preventive arrests. Protesters from Sitapur have been told to furnish bonds of up to Rs 1 lakh each, and warned against “disturbing public order.” 

“The government is using police powers to silence peaceful dissent,” a lawyer representing several protestors in Sitapur told the media. “Wearing black is not a crime,” he added.

In other states, there has been a huge political fallout from the law. In a significant blow to Bihar라이브 바카라 ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), five Muslim leaders from the Janata Dal (United) resigned protesting their party's support for the Bill. This included Nadeem Akhtar, Raju Nayyar, and Mohammed Shahnawaz Malik, who called the law “unconstitutional” and said their party had betrayed its secular values.

“The bill is a direct attack on Muslim identity and religious institutions,” Akhtar said in a public statement. “We cannot be silent spectators.”

With Bihar elections approaching, the resignations have created ripples in the state's political landscape. Opposition parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress are also challenging the ruling alliance secular credentials, while the JD(U) is caught between its alliance with the BJP-led Centre and retaining its Muslim voter base. 

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) also announced a legal and civic resistance campaign titled Waqf Bachao, Dastur Bachao (Save Waqf, Save the Constitution). The group filed a petition in the Supreme Court stating that the law violates the rights to equality before law and the right to freedom of religion enshrined in Articles 14, 25, and 26 of the Constitution. 

“We are using all democratic and legal tools at our disposal,” AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani has said. “This law is part of a wider campaign to dilute Muslim identity in India.”

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, along with several Congress and Samajwadi Party MPs, has echoed similar concerns and supported legal challenges to the law. “The government라이브 바카라 intentions are clear—they want to gain control over waqf land to appease their vote base,” Owaisi said during a protest in Hyderabad.

Community leaders and human rights advocates have said that the bill could embolden fringe elements. “When the state starts treating a community라이브 바카라 religious assets as open for control, it sends a dangerous message,” said Delhi-based political analyst Nazia Erum.

Internationally, the human rights groups and Muslim-majority countries have criticised the law, and even student groups in Bangladesh organised solidarity protests and human chains outside the Indian embassies. Rights watchdog Human Rights Watch has said it is concerned about the increasing use of “preventive policing” against minority dissenters in India.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju defended the legislation, saying it was meant to “ensure transparency and efficiency in the administration of waqf assets”. He dismissed criticism of the law as “misguided fear-mongering by vested interests.”

Yet for many in the Muslim community, the fears are real. “We are being forced to defend rights that the Constitution already guarantees us,” said Maulana Arshad Madani of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, which has also backed protests and cautioned NDA allies like the JD(U) and TDP against supporting the bill. “If they do, even the ‘crutches’ will not escape responsibility.”

The Supreme Court set to hear at least seven PILs against the Waqf Amendment Act later this month, including those filed by Owaisi and RS MP Imran Pratapgarhi. On April 7, CJI Sanjeev Khanna refused to grant an urgent hearing on the petitions saying “systems were in place.”