Waqf claim over 400 acres of land unleashes storm in Kerala, BJP’s Suresh Gopi says Parliament will pass Bill to ‘suppress this brutality’

“It’s not at Munambam alone… This brutality will be suppressed in India… There would be harsh decisions. To uphold the true Constitution, this Bill (Waqf Bill) will be passed in the Parliament,” he said.

BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan also made similar remarks.

“Tomorrow, Sabarimala (Hindu hill shrine) will become Waqf property.  (Lord) Ayyappa (the deity at the temple) will have to vacate. Should we allow that? Velankanni Christian shrine (in Tamil Nadu) is important for Christians. If Waqf claims a stake over the land, the shrine will go to the board. We have brought the bill against that. The LDF and UDF in Kerala have passed a resolution in the Assembly against this bill. If you don’t want to see Sabarimala and Velankanni going to Waqf, vote for BJP,” he said.

The row over the Waqf board’s claim over the Munambam land comes days before three seats in Kerala – the parliamentary seat of Wayanad and the assembly seats of Chelakkara and Palakkad – are set to vote. While voting for Wayanad and Chelakkara will be held on November 13, Palakkad will cast the ballot on November 20.

As elections draw near, the BJP has found a cause in the Waqf board’s claim, particularly since several families are holding protests. According to the occupants of the land, they had legitimately purchased it from Farook College, which had previously held the land, three decades ago.

For the Sangh Parivar, the issue appears to be a way to reach out to Kerala’s Christians.

The controversy also comes two months after the Centre introduced two Bills, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024, to amend Waqf board powers regarding land.

Although Munambam is away from the areas going to polls, the BJP has been playing the issue to hilt. On Sunday, the party’s Palakkad candidate C Krishna Kumar will visit Munambam to pledge solidarity with protesters. The BJP has also been highlighting the issue at corner meetings in the run-up to the polls, particularly the resolution that Kerala Assembly passed last month against the Centre’s Waqf Bill.

Backed into a corner, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has convened a meeting after the by-election, said Thursday that his government was “with the people who have been residing at Munambam for long”.

“Those who use the issue against the government should realise that it will be short-lived. Don’t think that people of Munambam can be misled,” he said in Wayanad.

But the BJP has now put the issue out on a wider canvas, with the state party state president K Surendran claiming Saturday that “more incidents of Waqf invasion” were coming out.