The Opposition has reacted sharply to a remark by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that young Muslims wouldn't need to repair punctures for a livelihood if Waqf properties - or properties meant for charitable or religious purposes under Islamic law - had been used honestly.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of an airport at Haryana's Hisar yesterday, the Prime Minister said lakhs of hectares of land are Waqf property but they were misused.
"If Waqf properties had been used honestly, Muslim youths wouldn't need to earn a livelihood from repairing bicycle punctures. But only a few land mafia benefited from these properties. This mafia was looting lands belonging to Dalit, backward sections and widows," he said, adding that the amended Waqf law will address these issues.
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi hit back at the comment, saying that if the Sangh (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the BJP's ideological parent) had used its ideology and resources in the country's interest, the Prime Minister "would not need to sell tea" in his childhood. Owaisi asked what Prime Minister Modi had done for the poor -- Hindus or Muslims -- in the 11 years that his government has been in power. "The biggest reason for what happened with Waqf properties is that Waqf laws were always weak. Modi's Waqf amendments will weaken them further," he wrote on X.
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