TMC leader Derek O’Brien questions Waqf Amendment Act: ‘Is hope being turned into hopelessness?’

Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Derek O’ Brien on Friday criticised the Waqf Amendment Act 2025, wondering if hope was being turned into hopelessness by the new law that has been challenged in the Supreme Court of India.

The TMC leader, wrote in his blog titled 'Am I Indian Enough?', that the Waqf issue was not just about land or law, but about dignity. “About whether our Constitution still holds meaning for all of us or only for some of us,” he said.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025,that came into force earlier this month, has been challenged by a batch of petitions. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the bill during the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament.

President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the proposed law on April 5.

On April 17, the Supreme Court of India granted the Centre a week's time to file a response to the petitions challenging the 2025 Act.

The Centre also assured the court that no appointments will be made to the Waqf Council or Waqf Boards until then, and no non-Muslims will be included in the Central Waqf Council and Waqf Boards until the next hearing.

It assured the court that until then, waqf, including waqf-by-user, will neither be denotified nor its character changed.

O'Brien said the Act shift the selection process from election to nomination, giving the government undue power to appoint board members. “This transformation of Waqf Boards into government-controlled bodies undermines their autonomy and invites majoritarian influence over minority religious affairs,” he said.

‘This isn’t about reform. This is about control’

The TMC leader asked “tomorrow, what stops the Union Government from taking over Hindu temple boards?"

“Or church-managed lands? This isn’t about reform. This is about control. And such overreach is a direct assault on Indian federalism,” he said in the blog.

The Waqf Amendment Act is not merely a legislative proposal, the Rajya Sabha member said. “It is a mirror. And what we see in it should disturb all of us – whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, any religion or none. Because if rights can be rewritten for one, they can be rewritten for all,” he wrote.

This Act violates equality, he said. “It violates personal autonomy. It violates federalism. And, more than anything, it violates the idea that our great nation is built on,” he said