‘Poor, Pasmanda Muslims will get rights back’: PM Modi on Waqf Act, accuses Congress of spreading ’votebank ka virus’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, April 14, targeted Congress for opposing the Waqf (Amendment) Act, accusing the party of spreading “votebank ka virus”. The prime minister also criticized the ‘misuse’ of Waqf properties, claiming that large tracts of land that could have benefitted the poor and Pasmanda Muslims had instead fallen into the hands of land mafias.

Speaking in Hisar of Haryana, PM Modi said, “There are lakhs of hectares of land in the name of Waqf. This land should have benefited the poor. This land, this property, should have been used for the welfare of the poor, helpless women and children. And if it had been used honestly, my young Muslim boys wouldn’t have had to spend their lives fixing cycle punctures. But on land mafia benefitted from these properties.”

“The loot of the poor will stop with this amended Waqf law. Under the new Waqf law, land or property belonging to any Adivasi cannot be touched by the Waqf Board...Poor Muslims and Pasmanda Muslims will get their rights. This is real social justice,” PM Modi said.

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Speaking on the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, PM Modi also accused the Congress of “humiliating” the social reformer and trying to erase his memory, noting that historically Congress fought elections against him.

“Congress has become the destroyer of Constitutions. Dr BR Ambedkar wanted to bring in equality, but Congress spread the virus of vote bank politics. Babasaheb wanted every poor, every backward to be able to live with dignity and with their head held high, to have dreams and complete them,” PM Modi said.

He added, “We should not forget what Congress did to Babasaheb. Congress humiliated him while he was alive. They made him lose elections twice. Congress even tried to erase his memory. Congress also tried to destroy Baba Saheb's ideas forever. Dr Ambedkar was the protector of the Constitution, but Congress has become the destroyer of the Constitution.”

(With agency inputs)