Waqf row in Karnataka: Of land ownership and beyond

The controversy around the Waqf Board serving notices to farmers and others, which had its genesis in the small village of Honawad in Vijayapura, has slowly become a State-wide and even a national issue, with the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill visiting Karnataka on November 7. The Hindu visits Honawad and takes stock of the larger ramifications of the issue

“El Dorado” is what one could call Honawad village if one were to translate the name into Spanish. Land of gold is what it means, the root word being honnu, gold in Kannada. However, little seems to be shining in this village in Vijayapura district in north Karnataka. Everyone is apprehensive, and few are willing to talk about why their village is in the news now.

Honawad hit the headlines recently when Tejaswi Surya, MP and BJP Yuva Morcha leader, claimed that the Karnataka Waqf Board had conspired to take over 1,500 acres of land in the village and issued notices to hundreds of farmers, seeking their eviction from lands they had been cultivating for centuries and had all the documents of ownership. Surya, a lawyer, said his office was open to farmers across Karnataka who had grievances against the Waqf Board.

M.B. Patil, Industries Minister of Karnataka and MLA from Babaleshwar constituency that Honawad is part of, denied the allegations. He released documents to show that no notices were issued in Honawad village, though he admitted 124 notices were issued elsewhere in the district.

Tukaram Dhadke, gram panchayat president, confirmed this to The Hindu. “We have held three meetings in the village in the last few days, one by Congress leaders, another by the BJP and the third by our village elders. We asked farmers to show the notices. No one came forward as none had received any.” Patil claimed that all the confusion arose due to an “error” in the name of the Takke area in Vijayapura being wrongly mentioned as “Honawad” in brackets.

Political slugfest

Patil said the government had not carried out any mutation in Honawad village. Surya countered this by sharing a picture of a Records of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC) that said around 9.14 acres of graveyard land was mutated by the State government. The date on the RTC, however, said it was done in 2022 when the BJP was in power in the State.

Interestingly, the total farmlands under the Honawad gram panchayat are less than 1,100 acres, belonging to around 900 families. The gazette of 2020 notes only 14 acres of waqf lands in the village.

Minority Welfare and Waqf Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan insisted that the 124 notices issued in Vijayapura district were the only notices issued in the State. He denied as “false” the BJP’s claims that over 21,000 notices were issued. “We have held 10 waqf adalats in various districts to hear the grievances of people and to remove encroachments. These adalats are not against farmers but are aimed at removing encroachments. We issued notices in Vijayapura as it has a large portion of the total waqf properties,” he said, adding that the BJP government had mutated as many as 140 RTCs without giving notices to farmers during its regime.

Who did it?

In Belagavi district, Anna Saheb Jolle, former MP and BJP leader, complained that his land was claimed by the Waqf Board. He alleged that the Congress government in the State had entered the Board’s name in column 11 of his RTC. When journalists pointed out that the RTC was mutated in 2021, when the BJP was in power, he said he had “noticed it only a few hours before the press meet”.

In Hukkeri, Athani, Gokak and Chikkodi — all in Belagavi district — some farmers held a protest before the tahsildar offices displaying RTCs. All the 16 RTCs show they were mutated by officers when the BJP was in power in Karnataka. Congress leader Raju Alagur has released copies of the BJP manifesto, which promised “protection of waqf properties” by removing encroachments.

Two officers at the Revenue Commissionerate said the issue of notices and cautionary mutations inserting claims in column 11 have been done since 1995. “An average of 100-200 notices have been issued, and around 50 mutations inserting claims in column 11 were done every year.”

A senior officer in the Waqf Board said the original total area of waqf lands in the State was around 1.12 lakh acres. Of these, 75,000 acres were lost under Land Reforms and Inam Abolition Acts. They were distributed to landless farmers and tenants. Of the rest, around 20,000 acres have suffered encroachment, it is estimated.

“A letter from the additional chief secretary asked officers to take action to ensure mutations of 21,767 RTCs. All these were related to encroachments. However, they cannot be done unilaterally. They need to be done by following due procedure. The process was initiated but stopped after resistance from farmers and opposition parties,’‘ another revenue officer said.

Ahead of the byelections to three constituencies in Karnataka, scheduled for November 13, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced the summary withdrawal of all notices served to farmers while the BJP continues its protests.

Fear and simmering anger

At Honawad, there is a palpable sense of anger and fear. “We do not want to talk about it as everyone thinks that Muslims in Honawad are trying to grab the farmlands of Hindus. It is not true, and our Hindu brothers in the village know it. But outsiders think we are land grabbers. It is difficult to convince them otherwise,” says Anwar Bagwan, a small farmer and fruit merchant in the village. There are around 1,700 Muslim voters in the village, with around 12,000 adults.

The graveyard, or kabarastan, that has now become notorious, lies on the other side of the village. It surrounds the dargah of Mehboob Subhani, a medieval-era Sufi saint who has followers of all faiths. There is a group of eight graveyards on a total of 23 acres, where all the eight major communities in the village bury or cremate the dead. Communities with clout, like the Lingayats and Kurubas, have fenced their lands.

The most vulnerable here is the part where Muslims bury their dead. Though the gazette identifies an area of 9.14 acres here as Waqf Board property, only half of it is available for burial. It has been encroached on three sides. On one side is the gram panchayat-built dhobi ghat, on another is a village road and on the other side is the open defecation land for women. “Around 4.5 acres of the kabarastan is what is left now. But some villagers are not allowing us to fence and protect even this portion,’‘ says Fakruddin Mulla, a member of the Anjuman committee that guards public lands.

Mulla, who farms his ancestral lands, is actually a BJP leader. He insists there were no differences between Hindus and Muslims till the 1990s. “But problems started post-Babrji Masjid riots,” he says, describing many skirmishes that crop up now and then in which he intervenes to strike a compromise.

Larger ramifications

The BJP-led campaign against the Waqf Board serving notices that began with Honawad has now extended to the entire State. BJP leaders have alleged that farmers from Kalaburagi, Bidar, Shivamogga and many other districts have also raised similar concerns as their RTCs now find the mention, “Waqf property, transaction is banned.” It has given a call to farmers across the State to check their RTCs and complain to the respective Deputy Commissioners, creating a sense of panic.

A few weeks ago, Basanagauda Patil Yatnal, a former Union minister known for articulating virulent anti-Muslim sentiments, organised an anti-waqf rally in Vijayapura, where several leaders demanded the abolition of the Waqf Board and the resignation of Siddharamaiah and Khan. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi chided Khan for describing waqf property as “assets of Allah”. BJP leaders have termed the notices served as “land jihad”.

Jagadambika Pal, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is looking into the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, visited Vijayapura on Thursday and met some aggrieved farmers. This followed a letter by Surya to JPC. He assured farmers that the NDA government would not let them suffer injustice. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bringing the amendment bill only to see that the Waqf Act provisions are not misused,” he said.

“The exponential rise in the number of instances in Karnataka where agricultural lands are being claimed by the Waqf Board is happening during a period in which the JPC on the Bill is meeting to deliberate on the reforms for the Waqf Act, 1995,” said Surya after the visit.

Not just a local issue

Sampath Kumar Shetti, an Athani-based advocate, is preparing to fight for farmers affected by the waqf issue pro bono. “I have collected land records and other documents of about 20 farmers now. I will look for more and file a single petition in the High Court,’‘ he says.

Shetti points out that most of the RTCs that he has got were mutated between 2018-2023. He maintains, however, that it is not important as to which party did it.

“It is the system that allows such discrimination that is the problem. Our fight is against the idea of the arbitrary and overarching powers given to the Waqf Board like exemption from adverse possession claims, presumptive ownership, waqf by usage, oral donations, and the responsibility of the other party to prove ownership,’‘ he said. “We hope the proposed Bill to amend the Waqf Acts that is piloted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will rid them of all such discriminatory provisions.”

However, Bheemagouda Paragonda, lawyer, RTI activist and Congress legal cell secretary, charges the BJP with conspiring against the Muslims. “The Waqf Board issue is a part of BJP’s election and bypoll campaign. It is nothing but another of its Islamophobic propaganda moves. Anyway, the Chief Minister has issued orders to withdraw notices and undo mutations into column 11,’‘ he said. Paragonda is also assisting farmers who seek a solution regarding the waqf issue.

“The Waqf Board and the Waqf Tribunal are statutory bodies protected by part three of the Indian Constitution. The issue of notices, placing claims by the Waqf Board by mutation of RTCs, efforts to remove encroachments through legal and executive measures, and legal fights in courts by the Board to protect its properties are routine processes. The issue of notices and mutation entries have been done across the country, in every district of Karnataka, at all times, during the rule of all parties,” Paragonda said. He said the issue of notices was strengthening the case of genuine owners as they can submit their documents to the DC office, and counter the Board’s claims.

He said provisions like exemption from adverse possession claims, presumptive ownership, implied donation by usage, oral donations, and the responsibility of the other party to prove ownership were protections given to all kinds of religious properties — Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsee, Christian and others and not just Islamic. “Such protections are given to some government properties like defence too. Also, we cannot have one law for one religion and a different one for another. It would be unconstitutional, discriminatory and arbitrary. That is why the Hindutva leaders’ argument that Hindu temples should be given autonomy while Islamic organisations should be strictly regulated by the government is not tenable,’‘ he said.

Published - November 08, 2024 06:28 am IST