New Delhi [India], March 12 (ANI): Congress leader Rashid Alvi expressed his support for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board's planned protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024.

Alvi while speaking to ANI stated, 'Everyone in this country is allowed to protest peacefully, and so does the Muslim Personal Law Board. The Waqf bill is being against the Muslim community. They want to, and so if they want to peacefully protest, they have all the rights to do so.'

Alvi also emphasized the government's role in addressing the concerns of those protesting. He said, 'It is the government's responsibility to talk to the people there, wherever there is a protest, and their problem should be resolved.'

Earlier, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) along with several religious and community-based organizations, will be staging a protest, called the 'Maha Dharna' at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on March 17, (Monday) against Waqf Amendment Bill 2024.

'All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) along with all religious and community-based organizations, and justice-loving citizens across the country, will exercise their democratic and constitutional rights by staging a protest at Jantar Mantar,' read a statement from the Law board.

AIMPLB has claimed that they have tried to present their objects and concerns regarding the amendment, and organised various protests against it, but the 'legitimate concerns of the Muslim community have been ignored.'

'Large-scale protests were held across the country, organised by various Muslim organisations, voicing strong opposition to the bill. Despite these efforts, the legitimate concerns of the Muslim community have been ignored, and the NDA government remains committed to it's agenda of seizing and destroying Waqf properties,' the statement from AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Mohd Fazlur Raheem Mujaddidi said.

The organisation also criticised other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, without naming any one party in particular.'It is deeply regrettable that even the NDA's allied parties, which claim to be secular and justice loving, are supporting the BJP's communal agenda despite receiving substantial Muslim votes,' the organisation said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Board claimed that the party has a strategy of 'divide and rule' and to be polarised.

'The muslim community views the Waqf Amendment Bill as a direct attack on the community. It is evident that the BJP's politics thrive on communal polarisation and the strategy of 'divide and rule.' However, its allied parties must decide how far they are willing to align with this divisive agenda.'

The organisation announced their protest for March 17 at Jantar Mantar, which they hope will wake the political parties up to and consciously raise objections to the bills.

The AIMPLB statement read, 'This demonstration aims to knock on the conscience of secular parties, NDA allies and the nation itself. Perhaps this will help break the deazdliock and enable us to effectively communicate our stance to the Members of Parliament. (ANI)