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Karnataka Today newsletter: Farmers, BJP groups submit representations to Waqf bill JPC chairman, and more

MP and chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 Jagdambika Pal has said that what is happening in Karnataka with regard to Waqf Board claiming ownership of various properties, including religious institutions, is a matter of concern and he would place the matter before the JPC.

After hearing grievances of farmers and BJP leaders in Hubballi on November 7, Jagdambika Pal said that he had received around 70 representations from various groups, from Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, and the fact-finding committee of the BJP, on even historical temples and lands that were cultivated for decades being declared as waqf property without issuing any notice.

Mr. Pal said that while the government had issued the statement that notices would be withdrawn, mutations had already been done in the land records, which is a matter of concern. To a query on the whole programme of receiving representations being converted into a BJP event, Mr. Pal said that it was not so. Apart from BJP leaders, several farmers’ delegations and individuals had submitted memoranda on their grievances.

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has termed the visit of Jagdambika Pal, Chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, to Karnataka as a ‘political drama because of the elections’.

He alleged that the process of issuing notices was all started by the BJP, which is now trying to put the blame on the Congress. “JPC had no authority to intervene in the issue. The JPC chairman might have come for political reasons,” he said adding that it was not an officially designated JPC.

The Karnataka Waqf Board has identified 17 monuments inside the historic Bidar Fort as its property, sources in the district administration said on November 6, 2024. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the custodian of the fort, is unaware of the development, sources said, adding that out of 60 properties in the fort premises, the Board found that 17 properties belonged to it.

These include renowned 16-’Khamba’ (sixteen pillar) mosque, 14 tombs of various Bahmani rulers and their family members including Ahmed Shah-IV, Ahmed Shah’s wife, Allauddin, Hassan Khan, Mohammed Shah-III, Nizam, Sultan Ahmed Shah Wali and Sultan Mahmud Shah.