RS passes waqf bill 128-95 as BJD boosts NDA numbers | India News – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill with 128 votes in favour and 95 against after a marathon 15-hour debate which started at 11am on Thursday and wound up around 2.30 am the next day.
The lengthy debate, marked by acrimonious exchanges, ended with the opposition seeking a division and the bill sailing through with National Democratic alliance’s (NDA’s) ‘secular’ allies firmly in its corner.
BJD’s surprising decision to withdraw its whip to allow its seven members to vote as “per their conscience” brought a few extra votes for the governing side and took its tally beyond the anticipated 123 votes to 128. A minimum of 119 votes was required for passage, and BJP’s deft floor management ensured a comfortable margin. The opposition bloc, expected to muster 98 votes, fell short at 95.
The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after nearly 14 hours of discussion, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it. With both Houses approving the bill, it now awaits President Droupadi Murmu’s assent to amend the Waqf Act of 1995.
Budget session ends, both Houses adjourned sine die
Parliament also approved the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2025, with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod. The lower house had earlier cleared the bill. The budget session of Parliament, which began on Jan 31, came to a close with both Houses being adjourned sine die on Friday.
Replying to the debate, minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed the opposition’s charges as fear mongering, while putting up a spirited defence of the bill.
“We have since yesterday consistently said that Muslims will constitute the overwhelming majority in both central waqf council and state waqf boards – 18 out of 22 and eight out of 11, in that order. Still, it was repeated ad nauseam that these bodies will be controlled by non-Muslims as a conspiracy to divest Muslims of their assets,” the minister said.
Rijiju, however, was blunt in saying that the two bodies could not be allowed to be exclusive Muslim entities either.
“Their brief is not religious and disputes over waqf properties invariably involve non-Muslims,” he said, adding that the central govt worked for all with the motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.
The minister said the waqf board was a statutory body and, like all govt bodies, it should be secular. He said the inclusion of a few non-Muslims on the waqf board would not alter the decisions of the body and, instead, would add value.
The waqf bill debates were the budget session’s highlight, with the Rajya Sabha sitting until 4.02am on Friday – echoing a 1981 session on the Essential Services Maintenance Bill that lasted until 4.43am. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called the 15-hour debate “unprecedented”.
Historically, Parliament has seen marathon discussions. The longest, on the ‘state of our democracy’, spanned 20.08 hours in the Lok Sabha, followed by the 1993 Railway Budget (18.35 hours) and the 1998 Railway Budget (18.04 hours). This session also saw swift discussions on other matters, like the ratification of President’s rule in Manipur, cleared in 42 minutes by the Lok Sabha and 1.24 hours by the Rajya Sabha.
