One of my friends, who has been living in the US for nearly twenty years, asked me why Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, his sister Priyanka Gandhi, a member of Lok Sabha from Wayanad (Kerala), and their mother Sonia Gandhi, have not spoken a word against the Waqf Bill in the respective houses. Although they give the impression of being strongly opposed to the Waqf Amendment Bill, nevertheless, their silence remains a mystery to any conscientious person.
When I expressed my inability to provide any explanation or reason for their studied silence on the issue, he opened up and said that it was due to extreme pressure brought on them from Christian organisations. While it is true that Christians in Kerala have opposed the Waqf Bill, it is hard to believe that they could exert such a mountain of pressure on the Gandhi family that would force them to remain silent. Rahul Gandhi did not even attend the debate for the whole day; when he finally came to the Parliament house in his sleepwear, he was unable to participate or speak in the discussion. The same goes for other family members.
If they are truly opposed to the Waqf Bill, they should have openly supported the opposition to it with their logic.
The Waqf has indeed caused immense damage to the unity, integrity, and social fabric of the country, a reality that is difficult to articulate. During Mulayam Singh Yadav's tenure as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of mosques were constructed in remote villages. Money from Gulf countries was pumped in to foster an atmosphere of hostility and rancour among the peace-loving villagers. No one dared to raise a voice against this blatant highhandedness and the divisive atmosphere created by goonda elements. This trend was continued dutifully by his son, Akhilesh Yadav. This was all done for en bloc Muslim votes for the Samajwadi Party. The Congress did not lag in the exercise of appeasement policy, but it garnered no support from them during elections. The primary strategy for Muslims has been to vote for anyone who can defeat the BJP. Anti- BJP stance is writ large on the faces of Muslims. So, what right could they have to say that the BJP did not field any Muslim candidates in elections?
The reality is that poor Muslims are incited and instigated by politicians against any decision made in the interest of the people by the BJP government. If you ask any Muslim, even in rural areas, about any beneficiary scheme launched by the current government, they will have nothing good to say about them.
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