This was probably the largest such gathering in the country to protest the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
Ignoring the scorching sun and high humidity, thousands of men, mostly Muslims, held a massive rally against the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 in Patna on Sunday, June 29, 2025.
A large number of old and young bearded and topi wearing Muslims from across Bihar and neighbouring states participated in the Waqf Bachao, Samvidhan Bachao rally at the Gandhi Maidan.
This was probably the largest such gathering in the country to protest the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
But women were missing at Sunday's rally. There was no women speaker and not a single woman was present on the main dais.
This protest was organised by the Patna-based Imarat-e-Shariah, an influential Muslim body, working for the rights and empowerment of the Muslim community in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
After the Bill was passed in Parliament in April, the Imarat-e-Shariah, headed by Maulana Faisal Rahmani, rejected the amended law and repeatedly demanded its withdrawal.
"We have to raise our voice, stage protests and mobilise support for violation of the Constitution by the Waqf amendment law," Rahmani told the rally. "Our fight is to save our places of worship, guaranteed by the Constitution."
"The BJP-led central government is hell bent to forcibly capture waqf properties to weaken our economic strength. But we will not keep silent any longer, we will fight till our last breath on the streets to protect waqf properties to save the Constitution," Safdar Ali, a middle aged Muslim from Darbhanga district, tells this correspondent.
"The Modi government has deliberately enacted the waqf laws to target a community. This government is eyeing our waqf properties and capture our religious places like mosques and graveyards," says Hasan Khan, a retired government school teacher and resident of Phulwarisharif in Patna.
"But this is not only against Muslims, this is against the Constitution," Khan adds.
Most of the protestors were unhappy with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United, for supporting the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.
"Nitish Kumar is equally responsible for the amended waqf laws," says Salauddin Ansari, a protestor from Vaishali district. "Nitish Kumar will not get our support and vote in the assembly election."
Several Opposition leaders including former Union minister Salman Khurshid, former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi, CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Independent MP Pappu Yadav addressed the rally.
Tejashwi, who is the Opposition Mahagathbandhan's likely chief ministerial candidate in the Bihar assembly election later this year, assured the rally that the amended waqf laws will not be implemented in Bihar if the Mahagathbandhan is elected to power and forms the government.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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