The bill would add non-Muslims to boards that manage waqf land endowments and give the government a larger role in validating their land holdings. The government says the changes will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity, but critics fear that it will further undermine the rights of the country’s Muslim minority and could be used to confiscate historic mosques and other property.
As the hours-long debate in the Lower House grew heated as the Congress-led opposition firmly opposed the proposal, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lacks a majority in the Lower House, but its allies helped to pass the bill.
The debate that began on Wednesday ended with 288 members voting for the bill while 232 were against it early on Thursday. The bill will now need to clear the Upper House before it is sent to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent to become law.
Later on Thursday, lawmakers in the Upper House began debating the bill. At least eight hours have been set aside for discussion.
Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the bill to change a 1995 law that set rules for the foundations and set up state-level boards to administer them.