‘The legislation is yet another attempt at persecuting Muslims in the country and keeping them in the constant state of second-class citizenry’
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – The new Waqf law in India is a blatant attempt by the BJP government to strip the Muslim community of its control over Waqf properties, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has said.
“These properties support countless schools, hospitals and welfare projects serving Muslims,” said Rasheed Ahmed, executive director of the IAMC. “Increased state control will deprive vulnerable populations of essential support and strip the community of its ability to address socio-economic inequality,” he said in a statement this week.
“The aim is clear,” Ahmed continued. “To take control of Waqf institutions and dilute Muslim authority. It undermines religious autonomy and the very purpose of Waqf.”
The IAMC, the largest US-based advocacy organisation of Indian American Muslims, said the amendments are a thinly veiled pretext to justify state intervention and create legal mechanisms to dispossess the Muslim community of control over its assets. “If transparency were genuinely the goal, the government would engage with community leaders and reform Waqf management through consultation, not coercion, it said.
The legislation, it said, is yet another attempt at persecuting Muslims in the country and keeping them in the constant state of second-class citizenry. The government’s “ultimate goal is to weaken the economic foundations of the Muslim community by seizing control of its institutions,” it added.
“This aligns perfectly with the BJP’s ideological mission to marginalise Muslims and limit their socio-economic mobility. We are actively engaging with international human rights bodies and civil society organisations to highlight the dangers posed by the law because it represents a systematic attack on the religious and economic autonomy of India’s Muslim community,” the IAMC statement said.
Ahmed said the IAMC is committed to mobilising the Indian diaspora and building international pressure to protect waqf institutions from the government’s overreach.
