Senior JD(U) leaders Mohammed Qasim Ansari and Mohammed Nawaz Malik resigned from the party over its support for the Waqf.
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- JDU one of key NDA allies backing Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Two senior leaders wrote to Nitish Kumar, resigned from party. Muslims believed party is secular, that trust is lost, leaders said. Two senior leaders of Janata Dal (United) resigned from the party on Thursday citing disagreement over its support to the Waqf (Amendment Bill). The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha late at night yesterday, with JD(U), an ally of the National Democratic Alliance, being one of its supporters. Mohammed Qasim Ansari and Mohammed Nawaz Malik, in separate letters to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said that they had “lost all trust” of Muslims who believed that the party was secular. “I am disheartened that I gave several years of my life to the party,” Ansari wrote in Hindi. Meanwhile, Malik said that the Waqf bill violates many basic rights laid out in the Constitution. “I would like to say with due respect that millions of Indian Muslims like us had unwavering faith that you are the flag bearer of a purely secular ideology. But now this belief has been broken. Millions of dedicated Indian Muslims and workers like us are deeply shocked by the stand of JD(U),” Ansari said in his resignation letter. Ansari said the Waqf Bill was “against Indian Muslims” and could not be accepted “under any circumstances.” “This bill violates many fundamental rights of the Constitution. Through this bill, Indian Muslims are being humiliated and insulted… Neither you nor your party realises this. I regret that I gave many years of my life to the party,” he wrote.
