DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday listed several "benefits" of the Waqf (Amendment) Act for the Muslim community.

At a workshop in Panchkula near here, Saini also accused the Congress of misleading Muslims over the provisions of the amended law for vote-bank politics, sources said.

The workshop was part of the BJP's fortnight-long public awareness campaign launched on April 20 to publicise the benefits of the Waqf (Amendment) Act and counter the opposition's criticism of the same. The amended Act will help make 'Pasmanda' (backward) Muslims the stakeholders in the management and welfare programmes of the Waqf with transparent and efficient management of its properties, Saini said.

"The Waqf (Amendment) Act will play an important role in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Prayas, Sabka Vishwas'," the chief minister said.

The law will benefit the women, poor and deprived among the Muslims besides increasing transparency in Waqf properties, he said, adding that it will also stop arbitrary encroachment of properties.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister also hailed the Centre's move to include caste enumeration in the next census. In a major decision, the Central government on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be included in the forthcoming census exercise in a "transparent" manner, as it slammed the opposition parties for using caste survey as a "political tool".

The workshop, which was also addressed by Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli and BJP's Minority Morcha national vice-president Zakir Hussain, was attended by many people from the Muslim community, officials said.

Saini claimed the Waqf law has enraged the land mafia and corrupt people doing appeasement politics.

"During Congress rule, the benefits of Waqf properties were distributed among the corrupt. But now the exploitative and appeasement politics of the Congress and its allies will stop with the implementation of this law," Saini claimed.

Saini also said that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has done public welfare work by amending the Waqf law. "The Waqf (Amendment) Act will increase gender equality and ensure the participation of all communities of the Muslim society," he said.

(editor@dailyworld.in)