The United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s stand in the Supreme Court that it will implement Section 14 of the Union government’s Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Act, or the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, will sacrifice minority interests and adversely affect the writ petitions on the matter pending in the Supreme Court, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.

In a statement, Mr.Vijayan welcomed the Supreme Court’s quashing of the interim order of the High Court imposing administrator rule in the Waqf Board. However, he said it was worrying that the State government has repeated its position taken in the High Court last week that Section 14 of the new Waqf Act in the Supreme Court too. The amended Act had mandated the inclusion of two non-Muslim members in the Waqf Board, a move against which several pleas are pending in the Supreme Court. The previous LDF government did not include non-Muslim members in the board.

In the intervention petition filed in the Supreme Court during the LDF government’s tenure, it also took a clear stand that non-Muslims should not be appointed to the Waqf Board, he said. He quoted a part of the petition to this effect: “There is no rationale behind inclusion of non-Muslim members in the Waqf Boards and there is strong legal contention that such inclusion of non-Muslims violates articles 14, 25 & 26 of the Constitution of India. As per the amended section 14 of the Act, members from Muslim Community will be a minority in the board. Except the 4 members under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 14, all the seven members can be non-Muslims and it is left to the State Government to nominate members of their choice in the Waqf Board”.

Spreading rumours

Mr. Vijayan said that the UDF government is pretending to be a protector of minorities and at the same time betraying the minorities according to the Sangh Parivar agenda. “Those connected to the UDF are spreading rumours that the current Waqf Board members have some disqualifications. Such observations have been made in the statement filed on behalf of the State government in the High Court. If the Waqf Board members have disqualifications, the government has the power and obligation to take action as per the law. But no such action as prescribed by law has been taken so far. Instead, they are creating a smokescreen through the media and misleading even the courts,” he said.

Mr. Vijayan alleged that the moves are part of a conspiracy to capture the Waqf Board after change of power in the State. “When the LDF government came to power in 2016, the Waqf Board appointed by the previous UDF government was allowed to continue until its term in 2019. The UDF is now trying to carry out political sabotage in such statutory bodies. The UDF has degraded to the point of accepting the Sangh Parivar-sponsored law that questions the rights of minorities, the purity of the intention of the Waqf Act and the very concept of Waqf. In this situation, we extend all possible support to the efforts of the current Waqf Board to ensure that the legal battles launched by Kerala are not weakened,” he said.