A group of Catholics has expressed dismay over Indian bishops supporting changes to a law governing properties dedicated to Muslim charity, saying it risks legitimizing government interference in the affairs of religious minorities.
In an April 8 open letter, some 15 Catholic activists and academics said the support from the national bishops’ forum, the highest authority of the Catholic Church in India, raised several “serious issues that merit careful reconsideration.”
They cited a March 31 press statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India that urged all parliamentarians to support the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025.
The amendments introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party were passed in the Indian Parliament on April 4 and received presidential assent a day later.
According to the government, the amendments were necessary to curb the excessive powers of the federal Waqf Board and the state boards overseeing Waqf properties that Muslims have donated for the community’s benefit over centuries.
The amended law stripped the Waqf boards of their authority to make unilateral claims on any property. Besides, it also allows Indian courts and administrative systems to intervene and resolve property disputes.
The central concern in the amendment “is that the legislation infringes on the autonomy of a religious minority’s institutional affairs,” the group of Catholics said.
The group, which included senior priests and nuns, said the bishops’ support “risks legitimizing state intrusion under the guise of reform.”
They wanted the bishops’ conference to reconsider its stand, noting the widespread apprehension and opposition from the Muslim community and opposition parties.
“The state interference in the affairs of one minority may well open the door to similar intrusions into the rights and governance of other religious communities, including Christians,” they warned.
The letter said Christian institutions were under increasing scrutiny and pressure from political and state authorities since Modi’s BJP came to power in 2014.
The number of reported incidents of violence and discrimination against Christians has sharply risen, including over 800 documented cases in 2024 alone, it added.
“We must be particularly vigilant in safeguarding the broader principles of minority rights and religious freedom,” the letter stated.
The group alluded that the bishops’ support for the amendment was part of an effort to assist around 600 families, primarily Catholics, in a village in southern India.
The villagers faced eviction after the Kerala state Waqf Board claimed ownership of about 400 acres of land they had purchased more than four decades ago and built homes.
It is a “localized matter” and “should be addressed through legal, negotiated, and conciliatory means,” the group said.
The BJP parliamentarians, while participating in the debate over amendments, referred to the support of bishops, portraying it as the “concerns of the Christian community” in the country over the excess powers of the Muslim board.
Observers say that the amendments were enacted because the Waqf board made unilateral claims over several properties, including government-owned properties, using legal loopholes, resulting in thousands of nationwide disputes.
Federal government records indicate over 21,600 land disputes related to Waqf claims are pending across India. According to the government’s Press Information Bureau, among these disputes are 5,977 government properties identified as Waqf properties.
The article appeared in the ucanews