Afshan Khan and Afroz Alam Shahil
NEW DELHI – The Hindu nationalists have always dreamed of turning India into a “Hindu Nation.” In this dream, their biggest enemy is India’s largest minority, the Muslims. The most influential thinker of Hindu nationalist ideology, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, wrote in his book Hindutva: Who is a Hindu: “India is the holy land of Hindus; it is not the holy land of Muslims or Christians.” Similarly, M.S. Golwalkar, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader, mentioned in his book, Bunch of Thoughts, the 3 internal enemies of India—Muslims, Christians, and Communists. Now that the proponents of this ideology have come to power, they are determined to fulfill their dream by any means necessary. Unable to remove Muslims from their path, they seek to marginalize them in every possible way. To achieve this, they continuously propagate various false narratives, one of the most prominent being the propaganda—Land Jihad.
Conspiracy theory of ‘Land Jihad’
Post-2014, Hindu nationalists launched propaganda in India, claiming that Muslims were engaging in Land Jihad. They alleged that Muslims, under the guise of the Waqf Boards, could seize land of Hindus. By misrepresenting the provisions of the Waqf Board, they misled the general Hindu population. By instilling fear among the Hindu majority, these narratives not only fuel violence against Muslims but also encourage the confiscation of their properties. Furthermore, over 120 cases have been filed in various courts across India challenging the validity of the Waqf Act.
The Indian media is also backing and amplifying this agenda. On Jan. 29, 2023, in Mumbai, a Hindutva rally organized by a Hindu extremist outfit called Sakal Hindu Samaj featured the slogans of Land Jihad and Love Jihad, with the media covering the rally extensively. This rally openly called for mob violence against Muslims, and instead of questioning these claims, the news reporters supported them, promoting these narratives on their channels as legitimate.
The same Land Jihad narrative was used by authorities in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states to justify the demolitions of houses without any legal action, with the media providing full support to this justification. Whenever the administration used bulldozers on Muslim homes based on fabricated claims, the media framed it as a case of Land Jihad, attempting to legitimize the actions of the government.
Thus, the Land Jihad propaganda that began after 2014 gained momentum after the BJP’s reelection in 2019. Prominent BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, openly used this rhetoric. During an election campaign for the Assam Assembly in March 2021, Amit Shah declared: “We have several resolutions, the biggest of which is that the BJP government will bring a law against Love Jihad and Land Jihad.”
BJP leaders in their recent election campaigns in Jharkhand and Maharashtra have spread fake news and false stories about Waqf to stir fear among Hindus, in hopes of gaining votes by polarizing society. In most of his election speeches, Amit Shah has raised the issue of the Waqf, falsely claiming that Waqf boards are used to seize people’s land. He has even gone so far as to say: “Despite opposition resistance, we will amend the Waqf Act.” From these statements, it’s clear what the BJP government’s real aim is in pushing for changes to the Waqf Act.
During the 2024 general elections, the BJP vowed in its election campaign that once they secured over 400 seats, they would abolish the Waqf Act altogether. Now, as the government has introduced the amendment bill, BJP leaders are openly stating that the bill has been brought to curb Land Jihad in the country. Notably, the proposed bill seeks to amend or repeal the very provisions that the Hindu nationalist organizations have used to mislead the public. The government claims that the amendment seeks to improve the management of Waqf properties and promote Muslims’ development. However, recent trends in India indicate otherwise.
Waqf in India
Waqf refers to the permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties by Muslims and their ancestors in the name of God for religious, charitable, or community purposes.
There are a total of 32 state-level Waqf boards in India. The Central Waqf Council operates as an autonomous body at the national level to protect Waqf properties. These 32 state-level Waqf boards oversee approximately 0.87 million Waqf properties, covering a total area of around 0.94 million acres. Interestingly, the Waqf boards that are being accused of Land Jihad have lost thousands of their properties. On Nov. 28, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha that 58,929 Waqf properties were facing encroachment.
The weaponization of ‘jihad’ narratives
In fact, BJP leaders and members of Hindu nationalist organizations have started using the proposed Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, presented by the government, as a weapon to spread hatred in the country. One could say that, much like various festivals, the Waqf Amendment Bill is also being weaponized in India.
Dhirendra Shastri, a Hindu preacher who advocates for a Hindu nation, has openly called for the dissolution of the Waqf Boards. Sadhvi Prachi, a Hindu nationalist politician and a member of the Sangh Parivar, has claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, created the Waqf Boards to appease Muslims, and it must be abolished immediately. A saffron-clad Hindu monk was seen on a television debate saying: “If you take the land of one temple, we will take 10 mosques.” Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “There is no place for Waqf law in the constitution.”
Nonetheless, amid the growing hatred in India, Hindu nationalist leaders have started saying: “Waqf is not the property of Allah, but the property of Rama and Krishna (Hindu Gods).” The hate-filled propaganda doesn’t stop there; the Hindu extremists are saying: “In the coming days, they (Muslims) will have to be killed. They want to create a Muslim nation by bringing in laws like Waqf and others.”
Furthering this propaganda of Land Jihad, on Aug. 8, the government presented the proposed Waqf (Amendment) Bill – 2024 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament. Opposition parties have labeled it an “attack on the federal system.” Following significant opposition to the bill, it has been referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for review, and the panel’s draft report was ready for submission. The government was about to present the bill on Nov. 29, but the JPC is now scheduled to present its report in the next session of Parliament in February 2025. -AA
