Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday, November 2, directed officials to immediately retract all notices sent to farmers over Waqf land issues. The move comes after the government began facing flak from a section of farmers and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who alleged that agricultural land in several districts was being classified as Waqf Board properties in land records.
The Chief Minister’s directions came after a high-level meeting involving senior officials from the Revenue Department, Minority Welfare Department, and the Waqf Board. He expressed strong dissatisfaction over the recent actions of certain officials and claimed that the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)] and BJP were “using” the Waqf issue for “political gain and potentially disturbing peace” in the state.
Siddaramaiah further appealed to the public to disregard any misinformation and called on officials to ensure the matter was handled sensitively. The officials were also instructed to avoid causing any trouble to farmers regarding land under their possession. He said any unauthorised modifications to the land records (pahani) without prior notice or legal procedure should be immediately nullified.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP has announced a state-wide protest on November 4, with Union Minister Pralhad Joshi calling for the immediate removal of the state’s Waqf and Minority Affairs minister Zameer Ahmed Khan. The party has called for a halt to Waqf Adalats in the state.
After meeting some farmers in Vijayapura, Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had accused the Waqf board of acquiring 1,500 acres of land belonging to farmers. The farmers alleged that Minister Zameer Khan had earlier visited Vijayapura and directed the Deputy Commissioner to serve notices to the farmers who were sitting on Waqf land. Similar allegations were raised in Kalaburagi, Bidar, and Shivamogga districts as well.
In the Vijayapura issue, Karnataka Law Minister HK Patil had said that the notices would be withdrawn. The minister said that the government had no intention of converting agricultural lands into Waqf properties. Industries Minister MB Patil, who is in-charge of Vijayapura, said that the misunderstanding cropped up due to a 1974 gazette notification, which contained an error. The Waqf Board had corrected this in 1977 by removing the term ‘Honavada’ (a village in Vijayapura) from the records, Patil said. The recent notices issued to the farmers were issued based on the version of the notification that carried the error, he added.
The allegations by BJP also led to the eruption of violence in Kadakol village in Karnataka’s Haveri district on October 30, after a group of residents pelted stones at the houses of a few Muslim leaders. The mob claimed to have feared that their land would be taken over by the Waqf board. Five people, including a local Muslim leader, were injured in the attack.
Meanwhile, senior Karnataka BJP leader and former minister MP Renukacharya released a controversial video, purportedly featuring Minister Zameer Khan instructing officials to reclaim Waqf properties across districts on orders of the Chief Minister. Speaking to the media in Davanagere, Renukacharya claimed that Zameer, with the “backing” of CM Siddaramaiah, was attempting to transfer lands belonging to farmers and temples to the Waqf board. He also described Zameer as a “religious fanatic.”
The Karnataka unit of the BJP has demanded a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the property dealings of the Waqf board.