In an interview with South First, Arshad said the BJP has been trying to snatch away the constitutional rights of Muslims, and the community was fighting the move.
Published Apr 27, 2025 | 4:45 PM ⚊ Updated May 24, 2025 | 7:39 PM
Rizwan Arshad.
Synopsis: The Waqf properties are donated by forefathers for the benefit of the community. However, the government is interfering now and saying, ‘We will manage your institutions for you.’ Then it brings an amendment, diluting the powers, and appointing non-Muslims in Waqf boards and councils, says MLA Rizwan Arshad.
The BJP is trying to hand over Waqf properties to its capitalist friends through the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, Rizwan Arshad, Congress leader and the MLA representing the Shivajinagar constituency in Bengaluru, has said.
In an interview with South First, Arshad said the BJP has been trying to snatch away the constitutional rights of Muslims, and the community was fighting the move.
He also provided details of disputed Waqf properties in the state. “The BJP is spreading false propaganda,” he said.
Arshad highlighted the need for the implementation of the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey Report, 2015, the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill and how guarantee schemes have fuelled Karnataka’s economy.
Q: You were part of the silent protest that was organised last month against the Waqf (Amendment) Act. Can you tell us more about the protest and what does it mean to the Muslim community?
A: The Constitution gives the right to every community to manage its institutions. Through this Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the government is trying to snatch our rights to manage our institutions. They say that they are helping the Muslim community through this Bill. On the contrary, they are helping encroachers to lay claim to Waqf land by diluting the Act.
If the government intends to dilute this act and help encroachers, let them be clear about it. Why is the government saying we are trying to help the Muslim community?
The government’s intent is clear when you read the Act. It intends to open wounds, create disputes among various communities, and create an environment of disharmony and unrest.
The way they have formulated this Act will lead to civil disputes between Muslims and other communities. A responsible government must bring people together, create an environment where all the communities coexist peacefully.
The Waqf properties are donated by forefathers for the benefit of the community. However, the government is interfering now and saying, ‘we will manage your institutions for you’. Then it brings an amendment, diluting the powers, and appointing non-Muslims in Waqf boards and councils. The Constitution has given rights to Hindu, Christian, Sikh communities to manage their institutions. Similarly, it guarantees the same rights to Muslims also.
Today, if this is happening to the Muslim community, do you think it will stop here? These will go to other communities also. That is why we are fighting for our constitutional rights.
Q: The Supreme Court has directed the Union government not to change the constitution of Waqf boards and the Waqf-by-user provision until 5 May. How hopeful are you about the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Muslim community?
A: Any Act, adopted by the Assembly or Parliament, should be legally challenged if it is against the spirit of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has reciprocated positively, especially in the Waqf-by-user provision. It has asked the government whether it wants to open wounds by starting conflicts between communities.
How will the board produce deeds of Waqf properties made 500 years ago? The RSS and Sangh Parivar are creating disputes in one or the other historical mosques. Parallelly, they want to dig mosques and see what is inside. At the same time, they are trying to amending the Waqf Act. The central government is creating an opportunity for all the disputers, who have a communal intent, to land into communal conflicts. Such people will benefit by this Act.
I welcome the Supreme Court’s observation but we have to wait till the final judgement is out. They are trying to understand the context chronologically about the happenings in Mathura, Sambal and other places. What happened to the Ayodhya judgement that came out recently? Why is the government, through this Act, trying to contradict this judgement?
The Supreme Court has clearly said that it is the last dispute and has been settled. No religious place can be reopened. If this Act comes into effect, then the Waqf-by-user will have no meaning.
It will lead to disputes between Hindus and Muslims. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will come out with a judgement that will settle these issues, promote harmony, protect minority rights and the spirit of the Constitution.
Q: Anwar Manippaddy, former chairman of the State Minorities Commission, reportedly stated in his report that 27,000 acres of Waqf land have been encroached. What do you say about it?
A: Yes, I know about the Anwar Manippady report, where he named the individuals and said those people have encroached on the Waqf land. All these years, the BJP was the saviour of Waqf land. They also wanted to implement this report and prosecute the encroachers.
On the contrary, the amendment is aiding the same encroachers. You can understand the BJP’s dual politics. Either they must stick to the Anwar Manippady report or be clear about diluting the Act, which is indirectly helping the encroachers.
BJP’s dual politics is to confuse the society, its agenda is to hand over this land to their capitalist friends. They would not want the minorities of this country to hold any property for the welfare of the community.
Q: Farmers across the southern states have alleged that Waqf boards have served notices, asking them to leave their landholdings. How do you justify this allegation?
A: I have exposed the lies of the BJP on this subject when I spoke in the Karnataka Assembly. The BJP has campaigned across Karnataka, making it an issue of farmers versus Waqf and Waqf versus Hindus.
With Karnataka statistics, I have proved that three crore acres of land were tilled and used for farming. How much is the disputed Waqf land?
The total Waqf land in Karnataka was 1,11,000 acres. The fact is, Waqf lost 84,000 acres to various land reforms, which means they were given to the farmers. Till now, the Waqf is labelled as encroachers of farmers land. However, we have not cried about it because we believe that farmers are our breadwinners.
Out of the 17,000 acres under dispute, only 4,500 acres involve farmers. This is a social stigma that the BJP wants to put on the Muslim community. On the other hand, the remaining 13,000 acres are in dispute with the general public, and 95% of them are Muslims. The dispute between the Waqf and Hindus and Christians is only five percent. How does this become a Hindu versus Muslim issue? It is a Muslim versus Muslim issue.
If you take the statistics, Waqf is not the third-largest landholder in the country as propagated on WhatsApp. The total Waqf land might not cross eight to nine lakh acres in the country.
Q: Do you mean there are no illegalities in Waqf boards?
A: There could be illegalities, and that is why we need a better Act to curtail those illegalities, to prosecute people who do wrong. Instead of strengthening the Act, the government is diluting it.
The BJP leaders are going against the Waqf Act that was passed unanimously, involving tall leaders like LK Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sushma Swaraj, and others, in 1995 and 2013. They are criticising this Act. They blame the Muslim community as if we were in majority to pass our own Acts.
Even before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP always said in its manifesto that it would strengthen the Waqf institutions and clear encroachments. They are doing the opposite of what they had promised.
What pains the most is that BJP MPs from Karnataka made false claims that in Vijayapura, the disputed land is 1,100 acres. When we verified, it was found that merely 11 acres are under dispute. How can they make such false claims?
Q: The Social-Economic and Educational Survey Report, 2015, also called as Caste Census Report is now the most debated one in the state. What is your stand on the 8% reservation given to Muslim population which is over 75 lakhs?
A: The caste census report is not just an enumeration of numbers. It is an x-ray to understand the socio-economic status of the communities, the distribution of wealth, providing equal opportunities, etc. If you want an egalitarian society, we need to conduct surveys during different time intervals, even the Constitution mandates the same.
The government should formulate policies to address the anomalies in society. It is important for us in Karnataka to understand whether the wealth is equally distributed or concentrated among only a few communities. This survey identifies the number of these communities that are still socially and economically backwards.
I am for the implementation of the report and its recommendations. It is 2025, and if people are still discriminated against based on caste, if they are not treated in a dignified manner as human beings, and if they are still having a hand-to-mouth existence, then it is time for its implementation.
Q: The Jains, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs say that they are being sidelined, and the Congress government focuses only on Muslim minorities. What is your opinion?
A: Again, this is BJP propaganda. When the state government allocated a budget of ₹4,000 crore for minority development, the umbrella includes all the minorities, Jains, Christians, Muslims, etc. Muslims are proportionately more in number, therefore, it might benefit us more.
The outlay of the total budget was ₹4,10,000 crore, and we got ₹4,500 crore, which is one percent. The BJP portrayed it as a Muslim budget. The minority population itself is 14%, and we are also taxpayers, and hence we have a right over the state treasury.
Is it not our right to get back a little fund to educate our children and for other welfare programmes? If the Congress government has given ₹4,500 crore for minority development, has it discriminated against any other community?
Though people know it is not the reality, they accept the false propaganda of BJP. Congress tries to balance and create social equality among all.
Q: The BBMP elections have been delayed for over five years. Don’t you think there should be an elected body in place to address Bengaluru’s infrastructure issues?
A: The kind of structure that Bengaluru has cannot be managed with one mayor for 11 months and one BBMP commissioner for 786 square kilometres. With this type of structure, we cannot fill potholes, and half of the city gets submerged during the rains.
Therefore, you need a good law to create multiple administrative structures. Twenty-five percent of Karnataka’s population resides in this city. How will you improve the city without proper laws for administration? We need to be more transparent and decentralised, and that is what we intend to do.
Q: Don’t you think it will bring unequal development in the city with unequal revenue growth or resources?
A: All these issues have been addressed in Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill. We need to have revenue equality and that is why wards will be reassigned accordingly to these new city corporations. Still if there is a revenue deficit, the state government will fulfill the gap. I am sure that no corporation in the city will suffer and there will be revenue surplus.
Q. The opposition has been claiming that the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill will lead to Bengaluru having non-Kannadigas as mayors. What is your take?
A: The BJP is like a chameleon that changes its colour. It wants to push the Hindi language in every southern state, it has added Hindi to every NCERT English textbook. Here in Bengaluru, the BHP has a problem that a non-Kannadiga might become a mayor. See its double standards. I am confident that Kannadigas will be leading every sector in Karnataka.
We have welcomed the people who have migrated from other states. The only request that we have is to respect the culture here and learn our language so that all can gel seamlessly.
Q: Is it true that the Congress government don’t have money to address infrastructure issues? BJP has alleged that the guarantee schemes have dried up the state treasury.
A: Karnataka has made more capital investments than the central government. It has increased by 38% when compared to the previous budget. We have invested ₹90,000 crore in capital investment.
These allegations are not true. There is a necessity to spend ₹52,000 crore on guarantee schemes due to rising inflation. Despite the Modi government being in power for the past 11 years, the unemployment rate is the highest when compared to the past 40 years.
There is a fall in exports and imports have increased. People are going through extreme hardships. If you don’t give them relief through different measures, the whole economy would collapse. We are giving allowances to underprivileged people and through that, it is coming back to the market. And then to the state treasury, as tax.
On the other hand, we are encouraging women to come out and work by providing free rides on buses. Earlier, they would spend half of their salaries on commuting. Now they are saving that money. Half of the population is working in different sectors that are fuelling Karnataka’s economy.
Karnataka leads in GSDP growth versus the GDP of the country. Guarantee schemes cannot be seen from a narrow perspective. They must be viewed holistically.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
