‘Waqf Bill Will Be In Dustbin If RJD Wins Bihar’: Tejashwi Yadav-OxBig News Network

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday declared that the recently passed Waqf Bill would be ‘thrown in the dustbin’ in Bihar if his party comes to power. 

Speaking at a press conference in Patna, the Leader of Opposition said his party has also approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Waqf Bill. “We have also moved the Supreme Court against the Waqf Bill. We believe that today Muslims are being targeted and tomorrow it may be the turn of Sikhs and Christians,” Yadav said. 

Tejashwi, who previously served as Bihar’s deputy chief minister, attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), saying the party was unsuccessfully trying to show that the new Waqf law would help the Muslim community. 

“They are trying hard, but without success, to prove that the Bill will benefit Muslims,” Yadav said, adding, “Just look at how the JD(U) has forced its Muslim leaders to address a press conference, which was quite a fiasco.” 

The JD(U) event, held just before Yadav’s, featured senior Muslim leaders such as Afaque Ahmed Khan, Khalid Anwar, Ghulam Ghaus, Ashfaq Karim and Kehkashan Parveen. However, none of them answered questions. Only minority cell chairman Afzal Ansari and spokesperson Anjum Ara read out a statement supporting Nitish Kumar and criticising RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad for allegedly doing little for the Muslim community. The event ended abruptly, with leaders avoiding media questions. 

Yadav, whose party office is located near the JD(U) venue, took a swipe at Nitish Kumar’s alliance with the BJP. “It appears that photographs of Nitish Kumar at their office will soon be replaced with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even a child knows the fate that awaits the chief minister after elections are over,” he said. 

The RJD leader argued that the Waqf Bill violates Article 26 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to manage religious affairs. He said the Bill was a distraction from real issues like unemployment and a tool for the BJP’s polarisation agenda. “We will not allow implementation of this Bill in Bihar. If we form the next government in the state, the Bill will be consigned to the dustbin,” he said. 

Yadav also alleged that the BJP and RSS have always been against minorities and backward communities. “While we were in power, the quotas for deprived castes were raised to 65 per cent… But the hike in quotas got quashed by Patna High Court, on petitions filed by supporters of the BJP,” he said. He added that since Nitish Kumar could not defend the marginalised, the RJD has joined the legal battle in the Supreme Court against the high court’s order. 

Responding to the controversy, Union Minister Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) accused the opposition of misleading people. “They did the same when CAA was brought, when Article 370 was abrogated and when Ram temple was built at Ayodhya. None of these moves affected our Muslim brethren adversely,” Paswan said. 

He claimed the Waqf Bill only aims to protect Muslim citizens in disputes with Waqf Boards and has no effect on existing properties. “But the opposition is busy with its own agenda,” the Hajipur MP said. 

(With PTI inputs)