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The Centre does not want to control Waqf Boards but ensure that they operate within the bounds of law so that their assets are used in promotion of education, healthcare and employment for the Muslim community, Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda said on Sunday.
Addressing an event organised at the BJP headquarters here to mark the party's 46th foundation day, Nadda said governments in Turkey and many other Muslim countries have taken the Waqf properties under their control.
"We are only asking those operating (the Waqf Boards) to do it as per rules. You will have to do it as per rules," he said.
"We do not seek to control the Waqf Board. Our goal is to ensure that those managing it operate within the bounds of law and adhere to established rules. The properties and funds of the Waqf Board should be dedicated to promoting education, providing healthcare and employment opportunities for the Muslim community," the BJP chief said.
Before the address, Nadda hoisted the BJP flag at the party headquarters.
Several party leaders, including MPs and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, were present.
Revisiting the BJP's political journey that began with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951, Nadda said today it has become the world's biggest political party and is in power in several states because it never deviated from its ideological foundation for votes, unlike the Congress which suffered a decline due to its "ideological dilution".
He also attributed the BJP's success to party stalwarts such as Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Atal Bihar Vajpayee and L K Advani.
"Today, we have 240 members in Lok Sabha, 98 members in Rajya Sabha and more than 1,600 MLAs across the country. We have just concluded our membership drive and the number of BJP members has crossed 13.5 crore. We have more than 10 lakh active party workers in the country," Nadda said.
He said BJP is the only political party that has witnessed a "scientific growth".
"Expanding the organisation and winning elections is an art and a science," he said, adding, "Though our opponents take jibes at us in Parliament, they also say we are the world's biggest party. Even our opponents recognise our strength."
Nadda said the BJP has always kept the nation first and made efforts to promote India's traditions, culture and history, and pointed out that a "magnificent" Ram temple was constructed in Ayodhya during the party's rule.
He said in the Shah Bano case, the Congress under the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had succumbed to appeasement politics by "bowing" to pressure from certain sections of the Muslim community.
"Despite the Supreme Court calling for the emancipation of Muslim women, no one had the courage to take a decisive action," he said, adding that BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi abolished triple talaq and liberated Muslim women.
The BJP chief said the Modi government also gave citizenship rights to those who came to India after facing "religious persecution" in Pakistan.
"We said we will come out of the colonial mindset. Rajpath is now Kartavya Path. A statue of Subhash Chandra Bose was also installed (near India Gate). We also scrapped Article 370. We never compromised our ideological foundation," he said.
Nadda said the BJP is moving forward with the "ideological foundation" laid by B R Ambedkar who drafted the Constitution of India, while the Congress has made several attempts to hit at its "soul".
He asked the party leaders and workers to reach out to people during Ambedkar Jayanti from April 14-25 and expose how the Congress tried to strike at the "fundamental spirit" of the Constitution.
Nadda also asked them to spend at least one day in a booth and meet people, especially veteran party workers who were associated with Jan Sangh and the BJP in the early days.
The BJP chief later met 98-year-old Shakuntala Arya, a veteran BJP worker who served as Delhi Mayor in 1997, at her residence here.
The BJP Foundation Day was celebrated across several states including Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hoisted the party flag atop the Hindu Sevashram building within the Gorakhnath temple premises. He also took a selfie with party officials in front of the flag.
In Maharashtra's Thane, district BJP president Sanjay Waghule said several workers from Shiv Sena, Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar joined the BJP in the foundation day celebrations.
Meanwhile, Union minister George Kurian presided over a function held at Jawahar Nagar in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. He praised the dedication and resilience of the BJP workers in Kashmir and reminded them of the party's unwavering commitment to national integration, development and inclusive growth.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini too observed the foundation day at the BJP office in Panchkula. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, he asserted that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was in the interests of the Muslims, and alleged that the Congress opposed the legislation because it feared losing its "income.".