Chhattisgarh Waqf Board to ‘vet’ all sermons given during Friday prayers

The waqf board is a body that manages, protects, and regulates waqf properties in India. According to sources, the decision came after the board was informed that the board had reports of “anti-government” speeches in some mosques in the BJP-ruled state

Confirming the development, Salim Raj told The Indian Express that a religious place “shouldn’t be turned into a political adda (place)”.

“It’s unfortunate that the place is used to issue fatwas (rulings) and decide who to vote and whom not to vote… They must talk about Islam, what it says and the message of Allah. Politics must be left for politicians,” he said.

Raj, who also heads the BJP’s minority cell in Chhattisgarh, said that the board will issue letters with the new directives to the 3,800-odd mosques in the state. “The order will be effective this Friday,” he said.
The directive has drawn criticism from Opposition parties such as the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Congress. In his post on X Saturday, the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi called the decision unconstitutional.

“The waqf board of the BJP government of Chhattisgarh wants that before giving the Jummah (Friday) sermon, the khatib (a person who delivers a sermon during Friday prayers or Eid prayers) should get his sermon checked by the waqf board and should not give the sermon without the permission of the board,” the Hyderabad MP said. Now BJP people will tell us what is religion? Do I have to take permission from them to follow my religion? The Waqf Board has no such legal power, and even if it had, it would have been against Article 25 of the Constitution.”

The Congress, meanwhile, called it an attack on free speech and the freedom to practise one’s religion.

“The waqf board has the authority to assess its properties but does not have the power to give instructions on what a Maulana or Mutawalli can say in their speeches inside mosques. This is unconstitutional and the Congress party condemns this,” Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla told The Indian Express.

But the BJP claimed it wanted to stop mosques “from being misused for political ends”.

“We have seen (it) in Kashmir, where they kept issuing fatwas and it led to Kashmiri Pandits facing violence and fleeing the place. Here too, if any controversial comments are made against the nation or state or anti-national elements try to participate in such things, the government will act on them. An eye is being kept on all mosques so they are not misused,” Tauqir Raza, BJP spokesperson for Chhattisgarh, said.