TMC accuses BJP of violating Constitution over Waqf Bill

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday accused the BJP of violating the Constitution of India through the introduction of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill from the rally at Rani Rashmoni Avenue organised by the minority cell of the party.

The rally that was attended by senior party leader Kalyan Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Snehasis Chakraborty and Javed Khan to name a few braving the rainy weather in the city was to protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in Kolkata on Saturday.

“Waqf means dedication of the property to Allah. The moment I dedicate, Allah becomes the owner of the property. Article 26 of the Constitution of India guarantees (religious denominations) the freedom to manage their religious affairs. Thus, if any religious faith is directly or indirectly attacked by any Bill, it violates Article 26,” said TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who is a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is currently probing the Bill.

“The Constitution of India advocates that the country should progress with the people of all religions, castes and creeds but the Centre is violating it. The sovereignty and secularism that the Constitution bats for is at stake,” said Firhad Hakim who is also the Mayor of Kolkata.

Accusing the Centre of attempts to disturb the peace and unity between Hindus and Muslims and incite communal tensions in society, Hakim alleged that the BJP was using the incident of attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, as a pretext to justify targeting Muslims in India. The TMC has opposed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 from the outset. Party MPs in both Houses of Parliament have voiced their resistance to the Bill.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday at the state Assembly termed the Waqf Bill ‘anti-secular’ and said it would ‘snatch the rights of the Muslims’.

She further reiterated that the Bill had been introduced without holding any discussions with the states.

Meanwhile, Trinamool’s women’s wing held a rally from Shyambazar to the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda in North Kolkata demanding immediate legislation for the Aparajita Bill that was.passed in the state legislative Assembly.

Trinamool MLAs of North Kolkata, Shashi Panja, Nayna Bandyopadhyay and Supti Pande among others, par-ticipated in the rally. A similar rally was held at Jadavpur in South Kolkata that was led by senior TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharjee.

According to sources, the Aparajita Bill has been sent to the President of India by the Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose.

“We had passed the Aparajita Bill soon after the rape and murder incident at RG Kar to include the provision of the death penalty for person/s committing rape and inflicting injury which causes death or causes the victim to be in a vegetative state. But the Centre is intentionally delaying the Bill,” alleged Panja. The Trinamool Congress is slated to hold a statewide dharna programme on this issue on Monday.