TDP announces support for Waqf Amendment Bill: 'Chandrababu Naidu in favour of Muslim
TDP announces support for Waqf Amendment Bill: 'Chandrababu Naidu in favour of Muslims'
M.U.H
01/04/202529
Ending months of speculation around the Waqf Amendment Bill that the Centre plans to move for discussion and passage on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Telugu Desam Party, a key ally of the BJP at the Centre, has announced that it will support the Bill when it comes in Parliament.
"The whole Muslim community is waiting for the Waqf Amendment Bill to be tabled. Our party will support it," TDP's national spokesperson Prem Kumar Jain told news agency ANI on Tuesday.
"Chandrababu Naidu has already mentioned that we will work in interests of the Muslim community. Tomorrow, the bill will be tabled, only then we will make any comments on it. I assure you that Chandrababu Naidu is in the favour of Muslims," he added.
The TDP's declaration of support for the Centre's Waqf Amendment Bill, also known as the 'Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development (UMEED) Bill', has seen fierce criticism from Opposition parties and several Muslim organisations.
The Bill aims to address key challenges in the management of Waqf properties by introducing reforms such as digitization, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties.
The support from the TDP comes as a shot in the arm for the BJP which lacks a clear majority in the Lok Sabha and requires the support of allies such as the TDP and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's JD(U) to get the Bill passed in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the JD(U), which supported the Bill when it was first tabled in the Lok Sabha in August last year, has reiterated its demand that the Bill should not be implemented with retrospective effect and said that it will go through the contents of the revised Bill before firming up its stand on the matter.
"Nitish Kumar has been working in Bihar for the last 19 years. During this time, the work he has done for the Muslim community is also visible. Our party had said that it should not be implemented with retrospective effect, and we hope the government will consider it. As long as Nitish Kumar is in politics, the interests of the people will be protected," JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha said.
The Waqf Amendment Bill will be tabled and taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha immediately after Question Hour on April 2 and in Rajya Sabha the following day. A duration of eight hours has been set aside for detailed discussion on the Bill which the government expects all parties to attend and provide their inputs.
The Centre, meanwhile, has exuded confidence that it has the numbers on its side to get the legislation passed in both houses of parliament. The government is also learnt to have reached out to allies to address their concerns, if any, over their support to the Bill.
The NDA commands a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha with 293 members in the 542-strong House.
