The Lok Sabha passed the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025 on Thursday after a hot and long debate, during which the members of the India alliance strongly opposed the law, while the BJP and its allies supported it strongly saying that it would bring transparency and increase the efficiency of Waqf boards.
The bill was passed after the amendments made by the opposition members were rejected. The House sat for more than midnight to pass the bill.
After Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju responded to the debate, Speaker Om Birla announced that the House is taking the item No. 12 -Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 for the House’s decision. He said that the question is whether the bill should be taken for consideration and then he said that the lobby should be cleaned.
Later he declared the result of division division. He said, “Under the amendment, yes 288, in Na 232. The majority is in favor of the proposal.”
The parties in India block had decided to oppose the bill and their members voted accordingly. He also pressurized some amendments to division. An amendment was rejected, in favor of 231 members and 238 members voted in the opposition.
The amended Bill has been brought after the government included the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which had investigated the bill submitted in August last year.
Responding to the debate, Rijiju accused the opposition parties of calling the Waqf Amendment Bill “unconstitutional”. Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the law related to Waqf property has been in existence for decades and it has not been canceled by the courts and such words should not be used lightly.
The ‘Muslim Waqf (Relations) Bill, 2024’ has also been passed in the Lok Sabha. The debate in the Lok Sabha lasted for about 12 hours. Rijiju said that after the bill is passed, the poor people of the Muslim community will thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The House remained sitting for more than midnight to pass the bill.
He said, “Crores of poor Muslims will thank Prime Minister Modi for the passage of this bill.”
Rijiju dismissed the criticism of the opposition members that the bill is “anti -Muslim” and said that some members are not ready to accept the truth despite Home Minister Amit Shah, despite being well clarified on all issues.
He said, “I want to thank all the leaders for their views regarding the bill. Some leaders are saying that the bill is unconstitutional, and I want to ask them how they can say that the bill is unconstitutional. If it was unconstitutional, why did the court not cancel it? Words like unconstitutional should not be used by the court. The words ‘constitutional’ and ‘unconstitutional’ should not be used so lightly. “
Earlier in his speech, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the opposition is trying to intimidate the minority community and make his vote bank. He said that the government does not want to interfere with the religious activities of Muslim brothers and trusts related to their donations.
The Home Minister said, “No non-Islamic member will find a place in the work related to the religious donations of the Waqf Board. The work of non-Muslim members appointed in the Waqf Board or its premises will not be related to religious activities. Any religion person can become a charity commissioner, he will ensure that the board will go according to the law, it is not the administration, it is not a religious work.”
He said, “The Waqf Board should have to hold out those who sell Waqf property. The opposition wants the connivance that was going on in their rule, but it will not happen now.”
Amit Shah said that if the laws had not been amended in 2013, then there would be no need to bring this bill. He said, “In 2013, the Waqf law was made extremist overnight for appeasement, due to which 123 VVIP properties of Delhi’s Lutyens Zone were given to Waqf.”
The Home Minister also discussed the widespread discussion made by the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which investigated the Waqf Bill.
He said, “We formed a joint committee, 38 meetings, 113 hours discussion and 284 stakeholders were included and all of them brought about one crore online suggestions from all over the country and after analyzing all these, this law was enacted and it cannot be rejected like that.”
Participating in the debate, JPC President BJP MP Jagdambika Pal said that it is one of the most important bills in the third term of the Modi government.
Earlier, Rijiju introduced this bill to consider and pass in the House.
The bill has an attempt to amend the 1995 Act. The purpose of this bill is to improve the administration and management of Waqf properties in India. It aims to remove the shortcomings of the previous Act and increase the efficiency of Waqf boards, improve the registration process and increase the role of technology in the management of Waqf records.
