Five leaders quit BJP ally JDU over support for Waqf Amendment Bill
Patna: In a strong expression of dissent, five senior leaders of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) [JDU], an ally of BJP, have resigned from the party in protest against its support for the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the resignations came from Tabrez Hasan, party’s youth wing vice president; Mohammad Shahnawaz Malik, Minority Cell State Secretary; Mohammad Tabrez Siddiqui, State General Secretary; Bhojpur-based member Mohammad Dilshan Rain; and former candidate Mohammad Qasim Ansari.
In his resignation letter to JDU Chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tabrez Hasan said that the party’s support for the bill had broken the trust of Muslims, who had believed that the party stood for secular values. “I had hoped you would maintain your secular image, but you chose to stand with forces that have repeatedly worked against Muslims,” Hasan wrote in his letter. He further stated that the NDA government’s support for the Waqf Bill followed earlier actions like the abrogation of Article 370, the triple talaq law, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, which he said harmed Muslim interests.
Meanwhile, similar developments occurred in the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), another BJP ally that supported the Waqf Bill in Parliament.
In Uttar Pradesh, Shahzaib Rizvi, State General Secretary of the RLD, resigned from the party. In his resignation letter, he accused party Chief Jayant Chaudhary of abandoning secularism and failing to support Muslims. “Muslims supported Jayant Chaudhary in large numbers, but he did not stand with us when it mattered,” Rizvi wrote.
The RLD also witnessed other resignations at the district level. Mohammad Zaki, District General Secretary in Hapur, resigned along with a group of local leaders. In his letter to the State Party Chief, Zaki wrote that the party had remained silent on Muslim issues and had chosen power over principles.
