In a massive public meeting called by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, with the political support of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a series of protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act were announced in Hyderabad on Sunday night. These include a blackout protest at 9 pm on April 30, when lights will be turned off in households to protest the law.
The ‘Batti Gul’ protest decision was announced at the Save Waqf, Save Constitution public gathering held at Darussalam, AIMIM’s headquarters in Hyderabad. The meeting was attended by members of several parties, including the Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and thousands of people.
Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the agitation is against forces trying to “annihilate us, but we will continue to thrive”.
“These forces trying to divide and raze us will be razed. We will not bow our heads,” Owaisi said. “ When I tore the law in the Parliament, I did so on behalf of all those brothers and sisters of other religions too who will be affected by similar draconian legislations.”
The gathering also decided to hold city-level roundtable meetings on May 18 and similar meetings in all the districts later. “Local minority leaders and secular representatives should be invited to participate in these meetings,” the AIMPLB said. A women’s public gathering will be held on May 22 at the Eidgah Bilali Hockey Ground in Hyderabad.
On May 25, a human chain protest will be held across Hyderabad from 2 pm to 2.30 pm, and on June 1, a sit-in protest will be held. “Public meetings shall be organised across districts of Andhra and Telangana in consultation with local leadership,” AIMPLB leadership announced on Sunday.
Speaking at the gathering, AIMPLB president Moulana Khaled Saifullah Rehmani said, “We trust the courts that there will be a stay on this law… There are people who have encroached upon the Waqf property, and this law has made it impossible to retrieve Waqf property.”
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The law would render Muslims mere “visitors” at their own property, he said. “From Mecca Masjid to any Masjid can be considered non-Waqf property. You can come as a tourist to see the property. How dangerous is this law?”
Owaisi said the Dawoodi Bohra community is not supporting the law, unlike what the BJP claims. “The community had represented before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that they would not support the Waqf Act,” said Owaisi, adding the community was misled and misrepresented by the BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Owaisi said that ever since the BJP came to power, for the past 11 years, several laws have been mooted and implemented to attack the Muslim faith and way of life. The fight against the Waqf bill is a fight which is to be fought alongside members of other religions and secular brethren, he said to a teeming crowd of sloganeering youngsters. “Turn on your phones so that the BJP leaders’ minds will be illuminated,” he said, emphasising that Muslims “follow the Constitution”.
