Gujarat, UP Govts tampering with minority rights — NCM

Recalling that the Board was elevated from the status of a registered society to a corporation by Shankersinh Vaghela government and subsequently reverted to its earlier status by the present regime, NCM chairman Tahir Mahmood said, "In the absence of any autonomy worth the name, the Board is rendering no useful service to minorities in the state."

Following attacks on Christians in the state last year, NCM had recommended replacing the Board with a commission.

He also expressed concern over the passageof State Minorities Commission (Amendment) Bill moved by UP government in the state Assembly saying it sought to reduce the present three-year statutory tenure of the Commission to one year.

"These political manoeuvres to tamper with statutory mechanisms relating to Constitutional rights of minorities blatantly contradict the oft-repeated assurances of concerned governments that they are committed to protection and development of minorities. The speech-action contrast in both cases is indeed flabbergasting," he said.

Pointing out another instance of "tampering" of statutory mechanisms in Gujarat, the NCM chairman said the management of Wakfs in the state was in a mess with the state government superseding the newly established Gujarat Wakf Board on December 17.

Stating that for the first time, a state Wakf Board was constituted in Gujarat in November 1996 under the provisions of new Central Wakf Act 1995, Mahmood said the present state government was not happy with the new arrangement and wanted theMuslim Wakfs in the state to be governed by the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950.

The Act is a general law wholly unsuitable for Wakfs, he said.

Expressing its frustration over such attempts, Mahmood said the NCM will not take up these matters with the two state governments.

"We are tired of the chorus of preaching the Constitution to governments which come to power by swearing to uphold it. Let now the justice conscious people of India decide for themselves," he said.