Waqf Properties at Risk: Former AP MLA Shajahan Basha advocates urgent safeguarding measures
In the midst of growing concerns voiced by activists and public figures regarding the threat to Waqf properties in India, Mohammed Shajahan Basha, former MLA of Madanapalle constituency in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, has added his voice to the discourse. Speaking to Vartha Bharati, Basha highlighted the challenges faced by Waqf properties, emphasizing their crucial importance for the Muslim and minority communities. The issues at hand, as pointed out by Basha, require urgent attention and intervention to ensure the preservation of these valued assets.
Mohammed Shajahan Basha, former MLA of Madanapalle constituency in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh
Shajahan Basha emphasized the urgency of protecting these valuable assets, ensuring they are exclusively used for the welfare and development of Muslims and other minority communities. The seasoned politician who is currently a member of Telugu Desam Party(TDS), expressed concern about the possibility of government or other entities taking control over Waqf properties, underlining the need for a comprehensive strategy to prevent such occurrences.
Shajahan Basha also made several demands to address these issues effectively. One of the key proposals includes the establishment of a five-member committee in all states across India dedicated to the preservation and proper management of Waqf properties. This committee, according to Basha, would play a crucial role in overseeing the utilization of these properties for the betterment of the communities they serve.
According to Shajahan Basha, the BJP-led government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is allegedly attempting to undermine Waqf properties, even targeting historically significant landmarks such as Delhi's Jama Masjid. Basha firmly asserted that these properties are essentially owned by the donors who selflessly contributed from their wealth for the advancement and upliftment of the Muslim community.
He emphasized that once these properties are designated as Waqf, no changes in ownership can occur, except through the donors themselves while they are alive. Post their demise, the ownership status remains unchanged, making the government a mere custodian responsible for ensuring that these properties are utilized solely for the development and betterment of the Muslim community. Basha clarified that the government does not possess ownership rights over these properties and must function solely as their caretaker.
He further stated that the government, along with other authorities, is currently leasing out these properties, a practice he deems inappropriate. He stressed that the government's primary emphasis should be on transforming these properties into lucrative entities that benefit the Muslim community. This transformation could involve initiatives such as constructing shopping centers and complexes, aiming to generate revenue and provide livelihood opportunities for the economically disadvantaged sections within the Muslim community. According to Basha, this strategic shift in focus would contribute to the overall upliftment and economic empowerment of the marginalized segments within the Muslim community.
Basha asserted that presently, the Waqf Board manages properties exceeding a staggering value of 20 lakh crore rupees. He believes that if these assets are strategically utilized with a clear vision, they could significantly benefit the backward and downtrodden segments within the Muslim community.
Sharing his past experience as the MLA of Madanapalle, he highlighted an instance where he reclaimed a wrongly leased Waqf property, which was originally given out for a 99-year lease by the previous caretaker. Basha disclosed that he took control of the property and transformed it into a shopping center, thereby creating a sustainable source of revenue and livelihood for the local Muslim community.
Basha also criticized Muslim political leaders and public representatives who, he claimed, only focus on the development of the Muslim community during elections to secure votes but tend to neglect the community's needs once the electoral process concludes.
Basha urged the Congress party to direct its attention towards Waqf properties in states under its governance, including Karnataka, in order to prevent any misappropriation. He emphasized the necessity for all Congress-ruled states to establish a five-member committee, ensuring the protection of Waqf properties. The primary objective of this committee would be to guarantee that these properties are utilized exclusively for the benefit and development of minority communities, with a specific focus on the Muslim population.
Basha wrapped up by expressing concern about the potential loss of Waqf properties to government possession if not adequately protected. He stressed the urgency of giving special attention to these properties, highlighting their pivotal role in the long-term upliftment of the Muslim community.
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Modi govt rattled by Rahul’s Great Nicobar visit; project concerns need Parliament debate: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday flagged in detail concerns related to ecology, tribal rights, transparency and security, over the Great Nicobar project, and asserted that these considerations must be debated in a parliamentary forum.
The opposition party claimed that the Modi government is "rattled" and in damage control mode after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's visit to Great Nicobar last week.
In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Modi Government, clearly in damage control mode after the hugely impactful visit of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to Great Nicobar on April 28 2026, issued a press note on the Great Nicobar Island Development Project three days later."
This press note does not address any of the serious concerns that have been raised on it by local affected communities, environmentalists, anthropologists, academics, civil society experts and other professionals, Ramesh said.
"These concerns had already been conveyed in detail by me to the Union Minister of Environment, Forests & Climate Change on September 10, 2024 and in a follow-up on September 27, 2024," the former environment minister said.
During his visit to Great Nicobar, Gandhi last week alleged that the Great Nicobar project at Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was "one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against the natural and tribal heritage of the country".
The government on May 1 released a detailed statement with answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions).
"The Great Nicobar Project is a strategic initiative to strengthen India's presence in the Andaman Sea. It seeks to balance port-led growth with calibrated environmental safeguards. Protection of indigenous communities remains central to its planning," the government statement had said.
"The project combines strategic, economic, and ecological priorities. This ensures that development is sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with national interests," it had said.
In his four-page detailed statement, Ramesh spelt out the key concerns over the Great Nicobar project.
Flagging ecological concerns, Ramesh said the Great Nicobar is unique and distinctly different from all other islands in the Andaman and Nicobar group.
"The Government's claim that only 1.82% of the total land of the island group is being used for the project is irrelevant and misleading. It ignores the ecological and biological richness of the Great Nicobar ecosystem, which is unique both in the island group and in the world," he said.
"Galathea Bay, the site of the port, is unequivocally a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) is a site where port construction is not allowed. As per records of the Zoological Survey of India, Galathea Bay is home to more than 20,000 coral colonies, a key marker of a CRZ-1a categorisation. Similarly, the beach here is the most important nesting site of the Giant Leatherback turtle in the Northern Indian Ocean," Ramesh said.
The recently concluded turtle nesting season saw record turtle nesting at Galathea Bay, he pointed out.
Ramesh alleged that institutions like the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) were literally coerced to play a key role in the environmental clearance and related process for the project.
"These very institutions have now been awarded projects for biodiversity research and monitoring in Great Nicobar. There is a clear conflict of interest here," he argued.
In addition, a couple of reputed and independent-minded institutions that have been very critical of the project have been blacklisted by the Modi government, he said.
Similar is the case with the high-powered committee (HPC) constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the matter of the challenge to the project's environmental clearance granted, he said.
All the HPC's members either represented the project proponents or agencies which granted the clearances, Ramesh said.
He said the proposal for compensatory afforestation in Haryana is a travesty of ecological principles.
Flagging tribal rights concerns, Ramesh said the Nicobarese Tribal community has expressed concerns multiple times about the project and its impact on their forests, rights, and way of life.
"In November 2022, they withdrew the NoC they had granted for forest diversion saying that they were rushed to sign by concealing the extent of tribal areas to be affected by the project. Representatives of the Nicobarese community also stated in a recent press conference that they were being forced to voluntarily surrender their land for the project," he pointed out.
The claims stand even more exposed in the matter of the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), that lives a life of hunting and gathering in the deep forests of Great Nicobar, Ramesh said.
The Shompen are a primarily uncontacted community and there are no non-Shompen speakers of their language, he pointed out.
"It is not clear then how the project authorities have taken their informed consent, which is both ethically appropriate and legally mandated," Ramesh said.
Pointing out that government release has claimed that the airport in Great Nicobar will eventually handle 10 million passengers annually, Ramesh said this appears prima facie to be a huge over-estimation given that the current airport at Port Blair handles 1.8 million passengers annually.
"The deliberations of the Forest Advisory Committee for granting the project's forest clearance were not made public. The report submitted by the High-Powered Committee that examined the clearance granted to the project was kept confidential. The field report prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) that pronounced the status of the site of the port from CRZ-1A to CRZ-1B overnight, remains confidential," he pointed out.
Ramesh also flagged security concerns about the project, saying no less a person than the courageous former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) himself has argued in an article that "the security capabilities of ANC (Andaman & Nicobar Command) need to be addressed separately and must have no linkage with the developments contemplated for GNI (Great Nicobar Island)."
"There is thus no need to link India's legitimate security imperatives with the so-called 'development project' - complete with a township, high-end tourist infrastructure, and large transshipment terminal - that the Modi Government is intent on bulldozing through and on which it is now trying to muzzle genuine and much-needed debate hiding behind "security considerations", he said.
"These considerations must, at the very least, be discussed and debated in a Parliamentary forum," Ramesh said.
