Last Updated:
The union minister also slammed the Congress for protesting against the Enforcement Directorate on the National Herald issue
Union minister Kiren Rijiju. (File photo/PTI)
Amid the judicial scrutiny of the Waqf Act, minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju has slammed the petitioners for “trying to undermine Parliament”. Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Rijiju expressed hope that the Supreme Court “will not be misled”. “Some politicians who have not got the mandate of the people are trying via the back door by misusing the platform of the Supreme Court,” he said. “I am confident that the SC will make a good decision.”
His comments came when an SC bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday was on the verge of giving an interim order that could have favoured the petitioners. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra posted on social media site X, “Delighted that SC proposed to stay three really egregious aspects of Wakf Act today & asked govt some tough questions. Hoping for full follow through tomorrow on my petition. @AITCofficial committed to upholding Constitution. @MamataOfficial @abhishekaitc.”
When asked about the now-withdrawn interim order of the SC, Rijiju said he would not want to comment on court proceedings since not just the SC but all judicial platforms must be respected. The minister, however, condemned the opposition for seeking judicial scrutiny of every law. “We have to respect SC and other judicial institutions… I have nothing to comment on SC proceedings… but India is a parliamentary democracy… the future of people is decided by people through the elected government… these people are making a malicious attempt to use SC for their cause… to stay legislations enacted by Parliament… Parliament is the will of the people of India… anything unconstitutional will be looked at by SC… but if you keep challenging every law… what will the courts do? They have crores of cases… waiting for justice… that justice will be delayed… what these people could not do on the floor of the House… they are using SC to achieve it,” the minister said.
Rijiju also slammed West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the Murshidabad violence. “Violence in Murshidabad… was after people were misled and instigated, encouraged to break the law. Any act passed by the Parliament of India is applicable to every inch of our country… some people holding constitutional positions are openly defying and declaring that they will not implement the law passed by Parliament… it is unfortunate… they will realise later. Because of their utterances, people are getting agitated,” he said.
The minister added that the only people protesting against the Waqf Act were beneficiaries of the waqf misuse. When asked if the government suspects a foreign hand or involvement of illegal immigrants, Rijiju remained non-committal.
“I will not go into the foreign hand issue, but those who have misused waqf property, who treat Muslims as a vote bank… they are working together and protesting… two classes of people – waqf misuse beneficiaries and political beneficiaries are protesting. The majority of Muslims… poor people, women are welcoming it… the majority of Muslims have understood that waqf properties have not been utilised for the welfare of Muslim people,” he said.
The parliamentary affairs minister also slammed the Congress for protesting against the Enforcement Directorate on the National Herald issue. He said the law should be allowed to take its own course. “They force the Congress workers to protest when the Gandhi family is involved. They don’t care about anyone else. If you are clean, what is there to fear?” he said. “If you don’t act against corruption, they accuse you of not doing anything. If agencies work, then they are charged with witch-hunt… If someone is clean, why bother? Indian courts always do justice. If there is a corruption chargesheet against anyone else, Congress never protests…Only when it is Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Vadra…they make hue and cry…Some privileged family puts all workers on the streets.”
