Trying To Mislead Muslims: VD Satheesan Slams Pinarayi Vijayan Over Waqf Row

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday hit back at Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan over the State Waqf Board controversy, days after the former accused the Congress-led UDF government of striking a political deal with the BJP and betraying minorities by moving to induct non-Muslim members into the board.

Rejecting the charge, Satheesan said it was the opposition leader who was spreading communal propaganda, trying to turn the Muslim community against the UDF through a false narrative while concealing that the government had itself asked the courts to dismiss the petitions challenging the board.

Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Satheesan said his government's stand in court had been clear and consistent, that the petitions should be thrown out and that the opposition was hiding this to stir anti-UDF sentiment among Muslims.

"The opposition leader, in order to spread communalism, has wrongly carried out communal propaganda to turn Muslims against the UDF and this government," the Chief Minister said.

He further clarified the board formed in Kerala after the Central Waqf Act was the first such board to be constituted in the country. He said the formation order itself had stated that two non-Muslim members would be appointed, drawn from the Bar Council and from public life and that it was the previous LDF government, headed by Vijayan, that had written into the order that these two members would be appointed later.

"Before this petition, it was his government that said it would appoint these two non-Muslim members. It is on record," Satheesan said.

The Chief Minister said four petitions were later filed in the High Court challenging the board. He listed the grounds raised in them that two non-Muslim members had not been appointed, representatives of the Shia, Bohra, Aga Khani and backward sections among Muslims had been left out, the category-wise representation mandated under Section 14 had not been ensured and some of those appointed were not qualified.

He said the government's response in court was that it would examine all these issues and constitute the board accordingly, however, the petitions themselves should be dismissed. "We have demanded that these petitions be dismissed. We stated that stand very clearly in court," he said.

He also said the Waqf Board in its appeal to Supreme Court has quoted the current government stance of dismissing the four writs against it.

Vijayan had said the UDF's position marked a complete departure from the previous LDF government's stand and had described the High Court's interim order as "highly shocking." 

On July 15, the Kerala High Court restrained the board from taking policy decisions or incurring capital expenditure without its permission, holding that the board was prima-facie not constituted as per Section 14 of the amended Act. 

On July 21, the Supreme Court removed a High Court direction that had placed the board under the supervision of a senior government officer, while asking the High Court to decide the matter quickly. The High Court is hearing the case today (July 22).