Will throw Waqf Act into dustbin if elected: Tejashwi
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Patna: Opposition parties and Muslim community leaders on Sunday mounted a blistering attack on the Centre and Bihar govt over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, accusing them of attempting to seize minority-owned properties and undermine constitutional rights.
Asserting that the law would not be allowed to take effect in Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said a future Mahagathbandhan govt would "throw the law into the dustbin".
The criticism came during the 'Waqf Bachao-Dastoor Bachao' (Save Waqf–Save Constitution) rally organised by Imarat-e-Sharia at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, which witnessed a large turnout from across Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The amended law, already passed by both Houses of Parliament and now under challenge in the Supreme Court, has emerged as a major election-year flashpoint.
With the state heading into assembly polls, opposition leaders accused the NDA of using the Waqf law and the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to marginalise Muslims, Dalits and backward communities. They alleged that the law was part of a larger agenda to suppress minority rights.
Tejashwi said, "The country does not belong to anyone's father (kisi ke baap ka nahin), it belongs to all of us.
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We will not allow the implementation of the new law in Bihar at any cost. The ruling NDA in Bihar is on its way out and the new Mahagathbandhan govt will throw the new law into the dustbin."
Echoing the sentiment, Samajwadi Party MP Zia Ur Rahman Barq said, "This is a war for the entire Muslim community against the new Waqf law and we will not stop till we win."
The rally saw participation from several senior opposition figures, including Purnia MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, former Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Congress leader and former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and Bihar AIMIM chief Akhtarul Iman.
Each speaker criticised the Act and appealed for collective resistance.
Congress leader and former foreign minister Salman Khurshid warned that the battle was not just about property rights. "Not only the Waqf, but the Constitution itself must be saved to protect communal harmony and constitutional rights," he said.
Although the rally reflected strong support for the opposition's INDIA bloc, some attendees said they were also considering backing Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party in the upcoming elections. Speaking in Siwan, Kishor reiterated his opposition to the Waqf law and extended best wishes to the rally organisers.
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