'The irony of this country is that the party in Opposition and the party in power both depend on Muslims.'
The day after Parliament gave its nod to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, President Droupadi Murmu granted assent to it, making it the law of the land.
Simultaneously, multiple Muslim organisations, including the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and political parties, moved the Supreme Court against the legislation.
Clearly, the battlelines between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition parties have been drawn.
Shahid Siddiqui, editor of Nai Duniya, the well known Urdu weekly, cautions that "The Waqf bill sows the seed of conflict in every town and village of India."
- Part 1 of the interview: 'Most dargahs, mosques will be threatened'
"I am thankful to PM Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as after Partition Muslims were asleep and not coming out for their betterment. But now they have realised nobody is going to help them so they are getting education and helping themselves," Siddiqui tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff in the concluding segment of the interview.
Is it true ancient masjids can shut if the collector orders that it is not a Waqf property?
Yes, he can take them over. This is a dangerous provision in the Waqf Act.
If any Waqf property, be it a mosque, dargah or graveyard, fails to submit papers they are in danger.
Any person can raise a controversy by stating that a particular mosque is not a mosque but a mandir.
This dispute then goes to the district magistrate. He can declare that property as a government property.
So the Sambhal mosque over which the dispute is going on can become government property overnight if the district magistrate so decides.
He can put a lock on the mosque and stop Muslims from entering it. And there is no timeline as he can lock it for five or 10 years. It is his wish.
Is the Sambhal Shahi mosque Waqf property?
All mosques are Waqf property. No mosques are private property (in India).
Can't non-Muslim define the interests of Muslims in Waqf?
Definitely they can, but as a Muslim I cannot run, say, the Tirupati temple.
Home Minister Amit Shah categorically said that running of mosques and dargahs is not job of Hindus appointed to the Waqf board. It is a religious matter and only Muslims can run their religious affairs.
How can a Hindu person be an administrator of a mosque if it is a religious matter?
Even a Muslim like me cannot run a mosque who does not understand all the intricacies of my religion.
Prime Minister Modi says one nation one country so why does he want different laws for Muslims?
A Muslim cannot run the functioning of a temple, but PM Modi wants Hindus to run mosques.
Like the Uniform Civil Code, which they are making, has different laws for different communities. It is not uniform at all but only to harass Muslims.
And let me tell you, Muslims are not getting harassed as they are waiting patiently.
I am thankful to PM Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as after Partition Muslims were asleep and not coming out for their betterment. But now they have realised nobody is going to help them so they are getting education and helping themselves.
I am confident that the future of Muslims in India is very bright, I don't see any problems for them.
What the BJP is doing is temporary as it cannot continue forever.
You asked me a question earlier, how long will this continue? I don't know the answer. Maybe 5, 10 or 15 years, as this country is too big to accept hatred for too long.
The Vaishno Devi temple was run by Hindu sadhus and in 1987 the government took over it and now that place has seen tourism grow ten-fold in the last four decades. Revenue will be generated. Don't you think the Waqf properties too will see the same prosperity?
Mosques and graveyards are not tourist spots. In Delhi so many mosques are run by the Government of India under the Archaeological Survey of India. I don't know how efficiently they are running.
There is a huge mosque in front of Purana Qila in Delhi. There happens to be a zoo too nearby and that mosque is in a dilapidated condition. Nobody cares for that mosque.
The same is the case for many mosques which are run in Agra by ASI as they say they are overburdened with work and lack of funds.
Today, Muslims of India have no place for burial as there are not many graveyards. New mosques are not constructed because the government does not give them permission to construct.
In a place like Gurugram, 30 percent of working class people are Muslims but still they do not have a place to offer namaaz as there are hardly any mosques to pray. They pray out in the open and get beaten up.
Tomorrow if a Muslim wants to build a mosque, is he allowed to do so?
In Gurugram 15 years ago one person bought land for building a mosque. He got permissions from all the necessary departments and started building the mosque. The work was stopped and the case went to the courts where the matter is stuck for the last 10 years.
Even in the Congress regime it was not possible to build a new mosque.
Permission too was not granted to build extra floors in mosques to accommodate more namaazis in Congress rule.
Muslims have been arrested just for praying on the roof of the mosque whereas there is complete freedom to stand in front of a mosque and dance.
You can dance outside mosques but you cannot pray on the rooftop of the mosque!
You interviewed Mr Modi. What according to you is going on in his mind to come up with such a bill? What are his intentions?
PM Modi's intention on the Waqf bill is nothing. His intention is to hoodwink a section of Hindus in this country to get their votes and remain in power.
This is because he cannot give them jobs or control inflation or make the rupee stronger or make smart cities or improve the economy. He has to give something or the other to his voters so he is delivering in terms of the Waqf bill or the instant triple talaq law.
When I interviewed him in the past, I asked him will he keep the minority affairs ministry if he comes to power. He had then said he will keep it and use it rightly and correctly.
Today all the scholarships given by the minority affairs ministry have stopped. His government has cut the budget for the educational institution of minorities and all development work for them has stopped.
How long can he do this?
It is up to him to decide on that, but right now this is the only strategy that is working for him.
He got instant triple talaq abolished which was a non-issue for Muslims.
Article 370 was a hollow Article and PM Modi went all out to abolish it. It did not mean anything to Muslims.
The BJP has been focusing on non-issues of Muslims, like with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
It is not for me to tell you how long PM Modi can continue like this, but BJP voters have to decide how long they want it to continue like this.
As long as his voter base continues to vote for PM Modi on these issues he will keep raking it up. The day his voters decide not to vote him on these issues, you will definitely see a change.
I am a student of history and I have seen that in any country a party which starts hating a particular group, they constantly search for other groups if the first group's hatred has saturated beyond a point.
The survival of the BJP depends on Muslims.
The irony of this country is that the party in Opposition and the party in power both depend on Muslims.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress create fear in the minds of Muslims against the BJP, and the BJP creates the fear of Muslims in the eyes of Hindus.
Indian Muslims are the centre of Indian politics for so many decades now.
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