Waqf Board chairperson slams IUML, Kerala govt. for favouring non-inclusion of Muslims on State Board
The Indian Union Muslim League and the Congress-led State government will be responsible for the eventuality of including two non-Muslims on the State Waqf Board
The Indian Union Muslim League and the Congress-led State government will be responsible for the eventuality of including two non-Muslims on the State Waqf Board, according to its chairperson K.S. Hamsa. Talking to mediapersons on Wednesday following the Kerala High Court verdict in a batch of petitions seeking to include non-Muslims on the board and its overhauling, Mr. Hamsa accused the State government of siding with Sangh Parivar affiliates, who, according to him, were out to destabilise the board. The Congress government, which supported a batch of petitions in the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court filed by BJP leader Shaun George, a Muslim League leader, and a Christian organisation seeking to include non-Muslims on the board, went against the unanimous resolution passed by the previous Assembly against the Unified Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development Act.
The Kerala government also stated before the High Court that it was in favour of fully reconstituting the board, he said. The Advocate General of Kerala, who declared in the High Court that the government was supporting the petitions, should have refrained from adopting the stance considering the social and public interests involved, he said. Hamsa alleged that the Kerala government was following the footsteps of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, which according to him, included non-Muslims on the Waqf Board and also appointed a BJP leader as its chairperson. The Muslim League, which was one of the first petitioners challenging the enactment of the Act before the Supreme Court, deceived the interests of the Muslims and society in general by adopting a legal position favouring the inclusion of non-Muslims on the Board in Kerala, he alleged.
The State government’s attempt to wrest the control of the board and destabilise its functioning was defeated through the recent orders of the Supreme Court and the High Court, he claimed. Hamsa felt that the inclusion of non-Muslims on the Waqf Board would disrupt social and communal harmony in the State as similar demands for including non-Hindus on Hindu temple boards, including the Devaswom Boards,
and non-Christians on the Church bodies would arise. The previous LDF government rightly desisted from appointing non-Muslims on the Board considering the social consequences of the decision, he said. Hamsa appealed to the Muslim League and the State government not to pave the way for the inclusion of non-Muslims on the board till the top court took a final decision in the petitions challenging the Act.
The BriefWire