Bhopal, Aug 9 (IANS): Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh have raised concerns over the Central government's move to amend the law governing Waqf Boards.

Congress leaders, especially those belonging to the Muslim community or representing the assembly constituencies having a chunk of minority voters including in the state capital Bhopal, have termed it a move by the BJP for political gain.

Former Minister P. C. Sharma and MLA (Bhopal Madhya) Arif Masood were among the Congress leaders who are vehemently opposing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024.

“I have gone through all 40 points mentioned in the bill, I do not find a single one of them, which will be beneficial for the Muslim community. It is an attempt to grab the Waqf Board’s properties,” Masood told IANS.

Sharma, who represented Bhopal South assembly seats thrice, said, “Rules for governing the Waqf Boards have already been in place for the last several decades and therefore, there was no need to bring an amendment on it. The BJP has an unprecedented defeat in Uttar Pradesh (in the Lok Sabha polls), which is the reason it came up with this decision.”

In Madhya Pradesh, there are around 14,900 properties registered under the Waqf Board, which includes madrasas, mosques, and graveyards. Also, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state had conducted an aerial survey to identify the properties of the Waqf Board in 2022 and had traced 9000 more properties in 21 districts. However, a majority of these properties are illegally encroached either by individuals or land mafias, a Bhopal-based senior journalist told IANS.

"For instance, there were 187 graveyards registered in Bhopal only, out of which only 23 are existing at present. The rest of the graveyards' areas have been encroached by powerful persons...," he elaborated.