Rajya Sabha debates Waqf Bill ... "We have no intention to interfere in the matters of faith", says Minister Kiren Rijiju

 Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday moved the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024 in Rajya Sabha a day after they were passed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday amid strong Opposition pushback. 

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Rijiju said: "... As of today, there are 8.72 lakh Waqf properties...In 2006, if the Sachar committee had estimated the earnings from 4.9 lakh Waqf properties at Rs 12,000 crore, then you can imagine the income these properties must be generating now...".  

Tabling the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha after it was passed in Lok Sabha yesterday,  Minister Kiren Rijiju defend the proposed legislation and said, "Right use of Waqf can transform India". 

"We have no intention to interfere in the matters of faith", says Minister Kiren Rijiju 

Meanwhile, on the Waqf Amendment Bill passed in the Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said: "Some people did not want a mythological place like Prayagraj to gain its identity because their vote bank was important for them... 

In the name of Waqf, they had tried to capture the land here in Prayagraj and other cities as well. 

When we were organising Maha Kumbh, the Waqf Board was making arbitrary statements that the land of Kumbh in Prayagraj is also Waqf land. Is it the Waqf Board or the 'Land Mafia' Board? 

We have already wiped the mafia out of Uttar Pradesh... We are grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for putting a check on the Waqf Board and doing welfare work by passing this important Bill in the Lok Sabha. Today, it will be passed in the Rajya Sabha as well."