BJP to lay siege to DC office over Waqf land issue

The BJP in Mysuru will lay siege to the office of the Deputy Commissioner on Monday, in protest against the State government over the Waqf land issue.

The BJP in Mysuru will lay siege to the office of the Deputy Commissioner on Monday, in protest against the State government over the Waqf land issue.

Addressing mediapersons here, BJP city unit president L. Nagendra and other leaders said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had directed officials to withdraw the notices issued to farmers over Waqf land claims only after the BJP raised the issue and hit the streets. There are mutations in the land records of the farmers and the CM has not directed officials to retract the orders and changes in the records which proves that changes in the land records were questionable and this is the issue the BJP has raised, said Mr. Nagendra. The issue has created confusion among farmers and people were checking the Records of Rights Tenancy and Crops (RTC) and other documents to ascertain land ownership, he added.

The BJP leaders including the president of the Minority Morcha Anil Thomas said the party wants to create public awareness on the issue. He said a convent school in Hunsur had learnt that a portion of the land on which it was built was Waqf land. “The school has been functioning for 45 years and now the management has to approach the Waqf Tribunal to plead its case,” he added.

Mr. Nagendra also questioned the legality of Waqf Adalat being conducted by Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan in various districts and said that it was an attempt to ‘grab land’ before the Centre brought in major amendments to the Waqf Act.

The BJP leaders said that as per Mr. Khan’s own statement in the media, even Waqf property has been encroached upon and 90% of it was by Muslims and hence challenged him to initiate action against encroachers. Mr. Nagendra and others said not an inch of farmers’ land will be allowed to be claimed by Waqf and the party would launch an agitation against it.