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Pal, who was accompanied by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, received over 2,000 copies of petitions from the aggrieved farmers, who claimed that the Waqf Board was asserting ownership of various properties.
Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill Chairman Jagdambika Pal, accompanied by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, shows a petition that he received after a meeting with local farmers regarding their lands being claimed by the State Waqf Board, in Hubballi, Karnataka, Thursday, Nov 7, 2024. (Image: PTI)
Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Chairman Jagdambika Pal’s meeting with farmers on Thursday amid the Karnataka Waqf land conflict row has now become a political flashpoint between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP.
While the farmers fear losing their livelihoods if properties are taken by Waqf without legal basis and have approached Pal seeking a resolution to the issue, the Congress have called the BJP-organised event led by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya political, coming right at the time when there are elections and bypolls being held in select states, including Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Pal, who was accompanied by Surya, received over 2,000 copies of petitions from the aggrieved farmers, who claimed that the Waqf Board was asserting ownership of various properties, including religious institutions.
“We have received thousands of pages of petitions, we will go through it carefully and place it in front of the JPC. These lands that the Waqf is claiming to be theirs, is their lifeline and they are claiming temples, schools as theirs as well,” Surya told News18.
Pal visited Vijayapura and Hubballi at Surya’s request and heard grievances from farmers across Vijayapura, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Hubballi, Bagalkot, and Belagavi.
“This is a grave concern,” Pal said. “It appears a drive is underway in Karnataka to designate properties as Waqf, with mutations in land records occurring without notification. This cannot happen without administrative involvement and needs immediate scrutiny,” Pal said, adding he was committed to presenting these grievances to the JPC, stating that a comprehensive report would be submitted during Parliament’s winter session.
Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge questioned why BJP MPs were tagging along with the JPC chairman and alleged that the intention was very clear and the “Chairman of the JPC is misusing powers.”
“They are playing to the gallery. This is not a JPC fact finding committee, but the BJP is trying to stoke emotions and passions of the people of the state, which they think will have a bearing in the Maharashtra elections,” said Kharge.
He added that the BJP doing this is a planned strategy. “Whenever BJP is on a sticky wicket, the bring up ‘Hindu khatre mein hain, love jihad and now land jihad. What has happened to love jihad? It’s been 11 years, what happened,” questioned the Congress minister.
On the other hand, Surya, while speaking to News18 said, “The JPC chairman is well within his rights to visit and getting a sense of the ground reality. He is meeting people and aggrieved farmers on the ground and recording their statements as it should be done. They (Congress) can criticise all they want, we are doing what is right and best for the rights of our farmers.”
Farmers reported receiving notices indicating that parts of their lands, including temple grounds and ASI-protected sites, were now being claimed under Waqf ownership.
“This isn’t an isolated issue,” Surya said. “It’s a pattern unsettling rural communities and threatening livelihoods. We urge the administration to handle this with transparency and fairness. This land is their life, their heritage, and these sweeping claims are breaking trust between the people and the administration,” he added.
Pal’s visit followed a call from Tejasvi Surya, a fellow JPC member, who raised the issue about these land claims across Karnataka.
“In Vijayapura, of 4,373 Waqf properties, only 14 are schools, 2 are hostels, 7 are colleges, and 1 is an orphanage. The rest include 1,311 mosques, 649 dargahs, 583 graveyards, and 23 madrasas,” Surya said.
He added that since 2005, “43 ASI-protected sites, including Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Roza, have been claimed by the Waqf Board. Encroachments and unauthorised constructions have impacted these heritage sites, with ASI requests for record corrections ignored, allegedly under Waqf Board influence.”
“Even sites like Sir M Visvesvaraya’s school in Muddenahalli, Chikkaballapur, are claimed as Waqf property. We have received volumes of petitions, and we will present each case to the JPC. Discrepancies in documentation by revenue officials will bring state revenue secretaries and DCs before the JPC,” Surya told News18.
Over 15,000 acres have reportedly been claimed in Vijayapura district alone, with allegations of altered land records without due process. While the Karnataka government recently announced it would withdraw notices to farmers, Pal emphasised that concerns over altered records remained. “The statements are there, but mutations are already in the records,” he said.
Karnataka CM Questions BJP’s Protest
Siddaramaiah recently launched an attack on former BJP CM Basavaraj Bommai and asked why the BJP, during his regime, had issued notices over 216 Waqf properties.
“What right do they have to protest now,” the CM had asked, adding that even after the government decided to withdraw the notices, they were issued when the BJP and the JD(S) were in power, and now the BJP is dodging a U-turn for political mileage and election gains.
Waqf Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan had earlier said that the BJP had raised this issue because the Maharashtra elections and bypolls are approaching.
“The BJP has brought this up only because the Maharashtra elections and bypolls are nearing. As a minister, I have been holding Waqf Adalat sessions over the past nine months, and I know what their concerns are,” said Zameer.
Responding to criticism from Khan, who called Pal’s visit “illegal” and outside the JPC’s mandate, Pal clarified the committee’s purpose to address stakeholder concerns over the proposed amendments. “This is precisely why we’re here,” he stated.
In the Thursday meeting, the first representation came from the BJP’s fact-finding committee on the Waqf issue in Vijayapura, presented by former minister Govind Karjol, who alleged that Khan was acting under Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s instructions. He said that the officials had initiated the process of changing land mutations in favour of the Waqf Board in haste.
A fact-finding committee visited affected areas and met with farmers, discovering that the Sindhagi mutt—a 12th-century mutt—and a Chalukyan-era temple were listed as Waqf properties in land records, he said.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Arvind Bellad, also submitted a representation urging the JPC to stop this “land jihad.” He alleged that properties were being declared as Waqf assets without valid documentation.
Advocate Mr Jirali, who also spoke with Pal, alleged that the land mutations had been altered without notice, based on an old Waqf Board order, and that changes were made on the Deputy Commissioner’s oral orders under pressure from the government.
As part of its field visits, the JPC has been hearing stakeholders across India in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
