Enact one law for all religious endowments: VHP to JPC on waqf bill

Lucknow: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday suggested to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill to enact single law for endowments of all religious properties in the country instead of only for Muslims.VHP's national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said that ‘waqf' was defined as a permanent dedication of any movable or immovable property for any purpose recognised by the Muslim law as pious, religious, or charitable."This dedication is made to Allah, the Almighty. Once a property is so dedicated, it becomes the property of the Almighty and vests in Him. Similarly, the Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs dedicate properties, movable or immovable, to the deities for the maintenance of temples and for pious, religious, and charitable purposes," he said.The VHP cited Article 44 of the Constitution, which says that "the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code (UCC) throughout the territory of India"."The Waqf Act, 1954, was not tabled in the Parliament by or on behalf of the govt. It was tabled as a private member's bill by Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi. It appears that the then ruling party was complicit in the moving of this bill. The bill was referred to the select committee of the Rajya Sabha," he said.