Ajmer (Rajasthan) [India], March 31 : The Chairman of the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council (AISSC), Syed Naseruddin Chishty on Monday expressed support for reforming the Waqf Board, urging the Muslim community to not be swayed by "emotional provocative statements" made against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, and believe the official statements of the government on the intentions of the act.
"I believe that the existing Waqf Act needs to be changed and Muslims need not be afraid of it. When the government itself is saying in Parliament that his not against the community, and masjids, dargahs will not be seized then we should believe the official statements only," AISSC Chairman told ANI.
The Council's chairman told ANI that the government has already clarified that dargahs, masjids under the Waqf board will not be seized, which should be believed by the people, and hoped that after the bill being referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), the changes will be good.
"The Waqf (Amendment) Bill that the Government is bringing, it had already expressed its intention when they had introduced it, and they referred it to the JPC. The JPC has heard all the parties very patiently and sent a report to government. Hopefully the bill that will come will be good, there should be a discussion on it, and a good bill will be passed," Chishty said.
The Chairman further condemned any "emotional" or "provocative" statements being made on the bill, without naming any particular individual or group.
"An attempt is being made to provoke emotions, which is wrong. Whenever there is talk of reform for the muslim community and the government wants to do something then certain interest groups provoke emotions of muslims," he said.
"For the past few days there have been instances that an attempt is being made to provoke emotions, there have been talks about how masjids dargahs will be seized. In a democracy, ruling and opposition both are part of it. If someone has a problem with a clause, then one has a right to protest against it," he said.
Backing reform for the Waqf Board, he claimed that the properties under Waqf are not being utilised properly, with only paltry sums of rent being collected from properties which are worth crores.
"There is need for reform of Waqf, there are so many properties under them, that the properties being given for rent, look at their property values, some have taken for Rs 1000, Rs 500, Rs 100 or Rs 8 or Rs 10, but the property value is in crores, and its rent should be in lakhs too. Whatever rent which is coming in is also not being utilised correctly," he said.
He further said that the talk of amending the waqf board is not new, the Sachar Committee report had also suggested amendments to Waqf board, and also there were talks of reform in 2012 when Congress leader K Rahman Khan was the Union Minority Affairs Minister.
"This reform is not just needed for today, if we look at the Sachar committee report, K Rahman was minister in 2013, when there was talk of amendment then too, so people believe that there is corruption," he told ANI.
The Sachar committee was constituted by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005. The seven member committee headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar was formed to study the social, economic and education conditions of Muslims in the country.