Ernakulam: Hours after the Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 50 residents from Munambam, a coastal village at the centre of the ongoing Waqf land dispute in Kerala, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). All of them are Christians who had previously supported the Congress and CPI(M), according to Joseph Benny, convener of the Munambam protesters’ action committee.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged the "Waqf Bill attacks Muslims" and "sets a precedent to target other communities in future".

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that a recent article in a RSS mouthpiece about the property owned in the country by the Catholic Church indicates the "true mindset" of the right-wing organisation and the alleged "majority communalism of the Sangh Parivar".

The Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Maharashtra's Pune city, under fire for allegedly turning away a pregnant woman over non-payment of Rs 10 lakh as advance for treatment, on Saturday announced it would no longer be taking deposits from patients at the emergency department.

The amended Waqf Bill, passed in both Houses of Parliament and now awaiting the President’s assent, is expected to impact more than 73,000 disputed Waqf properties across the country. These properties are listed in the Waqf Assets Management System of India (WAMSI), a Central government database that categorises them as encroached, alienated, or under litigation.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday arrived at the strategically located Karwar naval base in Karnataka, where he will soon flag off Indian Ocean Ship SAGAR.

An article in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece Organiser has stated that the Catholic Church of India holds more land than the Waqf Board, which has long been believed to be the second-largest landowner in the country.

Reacting strongly to the passage of the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill, Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre accused the BJP-led central government of targeting a specific community and misusing its parliamentary majority.