After Union Minister and JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lallan Singh, made a statement in the Indian Lower House on Thursday in support of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s controversial Wakf Amendment Bill, differences have surfaced within the JD(U) party over the stand of Lallan, who is considered to be the most vocal supporter of the bill within the BJP alliance.
On Friday, Vijay Kumar Choudhury, Bihar’s Minister of State for Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs and a senior JD(U) leader who is party leader and close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, expressed a different stand, even as he welcomed the government’s final decision to send the bill to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny. The government’s move came following stiff resistance from the Opposition and concerns from NDA allies such as the TDP and LJP(RV).
JD(U) sources said Lallan Singh’s comments on the bill “created confusion among party workers”, ultimately leading to the Prime Minister’s Office taking charge. Nitish is yet to speak on the matter, but Vijay Choudhury maintained: “We welcome the central government’s decision to refer the bill to a joint committee as there was misunderstanding and unrest among the minority community (Muslims). It is the party’s avowed stand to deal with issues relating to minorities with caution.”
Asked if Lallan Singh supported the Bill in its “present form”, Chaudhary asserted that “the concerns of minority communities about the Bill must be addressed before the Bill is finalised.”
Choudhury further said that the Nitish-led government has implemented several welfare schemes for Muslims which have “benefited the community”.
Choudhury is one of Nitish’s close aides, so his remarks are of no concern to the JD(U).
Chaudhry issued an “official statement” on the issue. A section of Muslim leaders in the JD(U), who had already expressed reservations over the bill, voiced their opposition to the bill following Chaudhry’s statement.
JD(U) leader and former MLC Ghulam Goose said, “There are legitimate concerns among Muslims about the Wakf Amendment Bill. It is due to lack of trust in the current government at the Centre. It is good that the Bill has been referred to a joint committee for consideration.” Goose has also written to PM Modi about dialogue with the Muslim community before considering amending the Wakf law.
Expressing similar views, JD(U) national general secretary and former Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Rasool Bariyawi said, “We are against the Wakf Amendment Bill and want to know whether the government proposes to bring in a similar law in the issue of temples and mutts.”
Debating the bill in the Indian parliament’s lower house on Thursday after the government introduced it, Lallan said the bill would bring “transparency” in the functioning of the Wakf Board and was neither “anti-Islamic” nor an “attempt to interfere in the running of mosques.”
A senior JD(U) leader told The Indian Express, “The Prime Minister is not very happy with Lallan Singh’s statements in support of the Bill. On the issue of the Uniform Civil Code as well, we had expressed our views to the Law Commission and said that we are in favour of reforms in Islamic law but certain religious issues in it have to be dealt with with utmost caution. Lallan Singh’s stand has created a lot of confusion among party workers. But now that the issue has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, we support it. You could say this is our party’s stand.”
Despite being a key ally of the BJP, Nitish has always tried to build a support base among Muslims, a section of whom strongly supported his party in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and the 2010 Bihar Assembly elections.
Nitish consolidated his base in the constituency by joining forces with the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) of the RJD and the Indian National Congress ahead of the 2015 state assembly elections, in which the RJD-Indian National Congress coalition won 178 of the 243 seats, while the JD(U) won 71.
Some of the welfare schemes being implemented by the Nitish government for the Muslim community include fencing of graveyards (more than 8,000 graveyards have been fenced so far), strengthening of supplementary schools, Tarimi Markazi (returning dropouts and out-of-school children to schools), employment of thousands of Urdu teachers, construction of Hajji Bhavans and running coaching centres for Muslim men and women appearing for competitive examinations.
“Though the JD(U) has returned to the NDA again, it has not given up hope of getting significant Muslim support in the next elections. Whenever sectarian tensions rise, Nitish Kumar becomes aggressive. Whether that will translate into Muslim support for the JD(U) is unclear but this shows that reaching out to Muslims has always been in his mind,” a JD(U) source said. The Muslim community constitutes 17 per cent of Bihar’s population.
