Appeasement politics brought Congress to power but ordinary Muslims faced neglect: PM Modi on Waqf law

Prime Minister Modi highlights the significance of the new Waqf law for social justice and democracy in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (April 8, 2025) said the new Waqf law was a significant move of his government towards social justice, contending that the previous law, enacted in 2013, was an attempt for appeasement of land mafia and Muslim fundamentalists.

Addressing an event, Mr. Modi said the politics of appeasement was at the root of the debate over the issue of Waqf and it brought the Congress to power and some Muslim fundamentalists became rich.

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"But, the moot question is what benefits did the ordinary Muslims get? What did the poor Pasmanda Muslims get? They were only subjected to neglect. They did not get education, they faced unemployment and Muslim women faced injustice like Shah Bano, where their constitutional rights were sacrificed at the altar of fundamentalism," Mr. Modi said.

The Prime Minister said a similar attitude led to the country's partition in 1947 when Congress leaders did not wipe out the idea of a separate nation that was nursed by "some fundamentalists" and not ordinary Muslims.

He said the Waqf law enacted in 2013 by the Congress-led UPA government created an illusion that the Act was above the Constitution.

"The amendment to the Waqf law in 2013 was an attempt to please Muslim fundamentalists and land mafia. This law created an illusion that it was above the Constitution. The path to justice laid down in the Constitution was narrowed down by the Waqf law," Mr. Modi said.