Two of the 28 Lok Sabha MPs—Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP—supporting the BJP’s WBJA have demanded that the Waqf Amendment Bill also need to protect the Muslim community’s interests.
New Delhi:
Janata Dal’s (United), Nitish Kumar’s party, has now joined ranks as the third BJP ally to make its discomfort over the government’s Waqf Amendment Bill quite clear.
Lok Janshakti Party of Chirag Paswan (Ram Vilas) has raised questions on the bill, and so has Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party.
The chief minister’s party is reported to be keen on amending the proposed law to protect the rights of the Muslims, who form 18 percent of the population in a state that is headed for assembly polls next year. The red-flagging by JDU is particularly meaningful because the party was an early backer of the measure; its MP Rajiv Ranjan defended the legislation during a debate in the lower house Lok Sabha this month.
Mr. Ranjan used a lot of energy to support these amendments by suggesting that they will solve the problem of lack of transparency.
Since then, though there has been dissatisfaction within factions of the JDU, the state Minority Welfare Minister Mohd Zama Khan met the Chief Minister to convey his worries over certain provisions.
It is stated that Mr. Khan is not alone; at least, Water Resources Minister Parliamentary Vijay Kumar Choudhary has referred to the ‘concerns’ being expressed by the Muslim community.
Mr. Choudhary is seen more or less as a political secretary to the Chief Minister.
JDU other leaders like MLA Ghulam Gous have also raised doubts, newspapers have said.
