The Lower House of India’s parliament early Thursday passed a controversial bill moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to amend laws governing Muslim land endowments.
The bill would add non-Muslims to boards that manage waqf land endowments and give the government a larger role in validating their land holdings. The government says the changes will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity, but critics fear that it will further undermine the rights of the country’s Muslim minority and could be used to confiscate historic mosques and other property.
As hourslong debate in the Lower House grew heated as the Congress-led opposition firmly opposed the proposal, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lacks a majority in the Lower House, but its allies helped to pass the bill.
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