Despite widespread discontent, the government has remained determined to pass the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, introducing far-reaching changes in waqf jurisprudence and even renaming the Waqf Act 1995 as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act 1995. What this new name has to do with the substantive amendments is anyone’s guess. The JPC headed by MP Jagdambika Pal set the confrontational tone that promises to continue during the passing of the Bill in the two Houses, and perhaps thereafter as well.

Waqf law is not new to India, nor indeed to the world of Islam. The concept of waqf goes back to the lifetime of the holy Prophet. In India, over the decades, it has been assiduously chiselled by scholars and legal experts to harmonise the essential conceptual features with the demands of the changing economic conditions of the community. As the minister for minority affairs under Manmohan Singh I attempted to fine-tune the 1995 Act with select amendments in 2013, an aggressive response from certain conservative quarters sought to question the motives; there were allegations of insensitivity in having it passed when most Muslims members were supposedly away from the House for namaz. Much was made of the registration prerequisite for giving jurisdiction to the Waqf Tribunals and one worthy even suggested it was done to interfere with the Babri Masjid litigation. As I look back, I can only reflect on the myopia that afflicted the leaders of the community, not imagining that crying wolf repeatedly would render them vulnerable if the wolf actually attacked. What one should have feared then is exactly what is happening now.

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