No Waqf Board has authority to expel community from a religion: Smriti Irani amid Ahmadiyya row
New Delhi (PTI): Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said no Waqf Board in the country has the authority to expel a person or a community from a religion, remarks that come amid a row over the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board passing a resolution describing the Ahmadiyya community as non-Muslims.
Prominent Muslim organisation Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on Tuesday backed the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board's stance on the Ahmadiyya community, claiming that this is the "unanimous position" of all Muslims.
Asked about the issue, Irani said, "I only want to say that all Waqf Boards come under the Act of Parliament. No Waqf Board can act contrary to the dignity of Parliament and violate laws made by it. No Waqf Board has permission that it changes a fatwa into a government order."
"No Waqf Board has authority, under the Act of Parliament, that it expels a person or a community from a religion. We have sought a reply from the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary. We have requested him to put the facts before us because the Ahmadiyya Muslim community had appealed to the Minority Affairs Ministry," she told reporters outside Parliament.
The minister said she is awaiting the response of the state chief secretary.
Asked about Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind backing the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board's stance, Irani said, "No non-state actor has authority to violate an Act of Parliament."
With the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board passing a resolution calling the Ahmadiyya community "kafirs" and non-Muslims, the Minority Affairs Ministry had written a strongly-worded letter to the Andhra Pradesh government, calling the board's resolution a "hate campaign", which "could have ramifications across the country".
"A representation dated 20.7.2023 has been received from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, vide which it has been stated that certain Waqf Boards have been opposing the Ahmadiyya Community and passing illegal resolutions declaring the community to be outside the fold of Islam," said the letter sent to Chief Secretary Andhra Pradesh K S Jawahar Reddy.
"This constitutes a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community at large, and the Waqf Board neither has the jurisdiction nor authority to determine religious identity of any community including Ahmadiyyas," the letter reportedly said.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
