Ranch: Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Cooperation Minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey on Thursday strongly criticized the Union government, calling the recent amendment to the Waqf Act an attack on the rights of minorities including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists, who together constitute 27% of India’s population.
She alleged that through this bill, the government has begun by targeting the Muslim community, and warned that other minority groups could face similar threats in the future. “This amendment is a direct violation of fundamental rights granted under Articles 14, 25, and 30 of the Constitution,” Tirkey said during a press conference.
Tirkey accused the BJP of pushing a hidden agenda through legislation passed in Parliament without adequate debate. “The BJP creates one narrative for the public and media while implementing a completely different internal strategy,” she claimed. “The eight-hour discussion in Parliament was merely a show to suggest that this country does not belong to 27% of its minorities.”
The Minister said the BJP’s claims of Muslim empowerment through this amendment were hollow. “Every section of society knows that the BJP has never been a well-wisher of Muslims. They are trying to run the country not by the Constitution, but by their own rules,” she added.
Tirkey also criticized the BJP’s claim of protecting Muslim women’s rights, calling it hypocritical. “How many Muslim women MPs or MLAs does the BJP have? If they truly care, they should give 50% of the tickets in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections to women, and at least 10% to Muslim women.”
She also rejected the BJP’s claim that the bill would help protect tribal lands. “In 2014, the BJP government formed a land bank and included sacred tribal lands like Sarna, Masna, and Hargari, benefiting corporate friends by including 21 lakh acres of land in the bank and signing over 201 MoUs,” she alleged.
Tirkey further accused the BJP of attempting to weaken tribal land protection laws like CNT and SPT Acts, stating that attempts were made to dilute these within minutes during their regime. “Land digitalization carried out in 2014 has left rural people still wandering office to office with their land documents,” she said.