Waqf Act Unrest–Is This Just About Waqf?

Part VII: Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025

Table of Contents

Beyond Land and Law

The Waqf Act Unrest that unfolded after the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, may have begun with objections to legislative reform. But as events unfolded, a more troubling pattern emerged. Was the uproar truly about the content of the law, or was it a veil for broader communal assertion, political consolidation, and religious one-upmanship?

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This blog, seventh in our trilogy confronts the deeper patterns behind the unrest. It explores how Hindu identity, safe zones, and basic civil rights are being contested under the guise of religious grievances—linking the current Waqf Act unrest not just to the CAA protests, Sandeshkhali, and the Marichjhapi massacre, but also to the prolonged Hindu exodus from Bangladesh. Between 1964 and 2013, over 11.3 million Hindus fled Bangladesh—an average of 600 per day—fleeing religious violence, discrimination, and systemic dispossession. The crisis didn’t stop there: fresh waves of displacement continue to unfold post-2021, with attacks on over 100 temples during Durga Puja alone, mass border migrations, and even BSF firing on Hindu refugees in 2024. The legacy of displacement is no longer just history—it is a living wound, deepening across borders and decades.

Communal Assertion Disguised as Reform Resistance

From Murshidabad to Pune to Bhangar, the nature of violence was strikingly similar: arson, lynching, police obstruction, and religious targeting. The slogans went far beyond opposition to the Waqf reforms—they invoked religious supremacy and open calls for vengeance. What emerged was a loud, aggressive assertion of identity tied to political dominance.

The targets were not lawmakers but ordinary Hindu civilians. Vehicles were torched, police mobility was blocked, and law enforcement was treated as hostile.

Shockingly, in many areas—including Murshidabad and Bhangar—no immediate FIRs were registered, and arrests came only after public outcry or judicial nudging. In some cases, despite visual evidence, accused rioters were not named or detained, reinforcing the perception that state machinery was either overwhelmed, unwilling, or complicit. Law enforcement, rather than restoring order, appeared paralyzed or politicized—raising questions about selective justice in Hindu-majority Bharat.

In South 24 Parganas’ Bhangar, 18 police vehicles were destroyed and officers injured in a militarized style of riot. In Murshidabad, Hindus were chased from their homes, forced to cross rivers for safety. The slogans weren’t about administrative reform. They invoked Islamic victimhood and the sanctity of waqf as a religious duty to defend—even through violence.

Waqf Act Unrest and Language of Victimhood

From TMC leaders to AIMIM leader, the messaging was clear: the Act was an attack on Islam. Bengal Chief Minister’s promise that “Didi will protect your property” subtly cast the Hindu-majority state as a threat. This language mirrored 2019’s Shaheen Bagh narrative, where the CAA was branded a genocidal tool despite its humanitarian scope for persecuted minorities.

What follows such messaging is predictable: stone-pelting, arson, blockades, mob lynching and scripted outrage. Leaders provoke while remaining immune to consequences. Just as Congress leader, in 2019 Ramlila ground speech triggered the CAA protests, speeches following the Waqf Act served the same purpose—to consolidate religious vote banks by cultivating siege narratives.

Disrupting Hindu Identity: A Recurring Strategy

As detailed in our blog “Waqf Act Protests: From Rhetoric to Riots Igniting Passion,” communal violence has routinely followed a pattern: disrupt Hindu festivals, desecrate symbols, provoke confrontation, and then claim persecution. Whether it was Ram Navami in Murshidabad (2023), Hanuman Jayanti in Delhi (2022), or Ganesh Visarjan in Delhi (2024), the intent remains the same—to break the rhythm of Hindu assertion in public spaces.

The Waqf Act unrest follows this trajectory. The passage of the law was followed in some areas by targeted unrest impacting Hindu neighborhoods, shops, and public festivities. Each riot becomes a ritual of dominance, resetting the social equilibrium in favor of those who assert most violently.

From Marichjhapi to Bangladesh: The Cycle of Betrayal

The parallels with the Marichjhapi massacre are unmistakable. There, refugees who built homes in Sundarbans were betrayed by the very political party that promised them shelter. They were blockaded, shot, and erased from history. The Bangladesh Hindu Massacre series documents how Hindus have been repeatedly displaced—from East Pakistan to modern-day Bangladesh to the refugee camps of India.

Today, Hindu families in Murshidabad and Malda echo that trauma. Once again, they are chased from homes, once again, the state remains passive or complicit. The cycle continues:

A communal trigger
Political silence or provocation
State inaction
Hindu displacement

It happened at Marichjhapi. It happened during CAA. And it is happening now.

Safe Zones Shrinking, Fear Zones Expanding

The events post-Waqf Amendment expose a chilling reality: Hindu-majority India has zones where Hindus are not safe. Whether in Sandeshkhali, Bhangar, or Baduria, they are outnumbered, unarmed, and unprotected. The notion of a civil Hindu homeland is being eroded by repeated episodes of selective violence.

If these events continue unchecked, India may replicate the fate of Bangladesh, where the Hindu population fell from 22% in 1947 to under 8% today. What begins as a law protest often ends in a demographic shift. Once Hindus flee, they rarely return.

Judicial Bias and the Waqf Act: A System Under Scrutiny

The violence following the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, exposed not just communal tensions but a deeper institutional failure in the judiciary. As Hindu families in Bhangar, Murshidabad, and beyond sought justice, they faced delayed FIRs, diluted complaints, and judicial inertia. In Bhangar, where 18 police vehicles were torched, arrests lagged despite video evidence, with suspects quickly bailed citing “no direct proof” (Calcutta High Court, April 2025). In Murshidabad, Hindu survivors fled lynchings, yet police omitted key instigators from FIRs, alleging “communal sensitivity” (The Hindu, April 2025). Petitions for SIT probes and victim protection languish in Kolkata and Bombay High Courts, while no state has formed a judicial commission.

The Supreme Court, expected to uphold fairness, has deepened distrust. It dismissed Hindu petitioners’ challenges to the Waqf Act, 1995, redirecting them to High Courts (e.g., Ashwani Kumar case, January 2025), yet swiftly admitted Muslim-led pleas against the 2025 Act. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain critiques this double standard: “When we challenged the Waqf Act in 2018, SC sent us to High Courts, but now it entertains similar issues directly.” He slams the “waqf by user” doctrine, upheld by SC but struck down in 2025, as unconstitutional, enabling undocumented land claims while Hindu temples face rigid documentation demands (e.g., Yamuna Shiva temple case vs. Gyanvapi).

Our upcoming blog, The Judiciary and the Waqf Act: Precedent or Prejudice?, will dissect these inconsistencies, exploring whether judicial selectivity undermines justice for Hindus. When courts delay, evidence fades, and victims wait, the message is clear: justice is a promise unkept for those targeted in this Waqf Act Unrest.

Lessons Unlearned: Echoes of Past in the Waqf Act Unrest

Whether it was the abandoned refugees of Marichjhapi in 1979 or the orchestrated outrage of Shaheen Bagh in 2019 and the Delhi Riots 2020, Bharat has seen this script unfold before—where Hindu suffering is either erased or exploited, and governance collapses under the weight of political cowardice. In both cases, state complicity and selective justice enabled violence masquerading as dissent. The post-Waqf Act unrest follows that same arc: victimhood politicized, law hijacked, and Hindus targeted while the institutions of justice stall.

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Glossary of Terms

Waqf: A religious endowment in Islamic law wherein property is permanently dedicated for charitable or religious use, typically managed by a waqf board.
Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025: A legislative reform in India that abolished the “waqf by user” clause and mandated formal documentation for waqf properties, triggering widespread protests and Waqf Act Unrest.
Waqf by User: A controversial clause that allowed land to be declared waqf solely on the basis of long-standing public religious usage, without formal ownership documents.
Marichjhapi Massacre: A 1979 tragedy where Bengali Hindu refugees in West Bengal were forcibly evicted and many killed by the state despite earlier political promises of rehabilitation.
Shaheen Bagh Protest: A prolonged anti-CAA demonstration in Delhi (2019–2020) led largely by Muslim women, which became a national symbol of protest but also drew accusations of communal polarization.
South 24 Parganas’ Bhangar: A region in West Bengal where intense rioting, arson, and police-targeted violence occurred during the Waqf Act unrest in early 2025.
Murshidabad: A Muslim-majority district in West Bengal where Hindu families reportedly faced forced displacement and attacks during the Waqf Act-related violence.
Unakoti District: A district in Tripura where over 4,000 people reportedly clashed with police over the Waqf Act, leading to curfews and legal petitions.
Ashwani Kumar Case: A 2025 petition challenging the appointment of the Delhi Waqf Board Administrator, which the Supreme Court redirected to the High Court instead of hearing directly.
Vishnu Shankar Jain: A constitutional lawyer known for representing Hindu interests in legal cases, including Waqf disputes, and for publicly criticizing judicial inconsistencies.
Article 300A: A constitutional provision that protects the right to property, stating that no one shall be deprived of property except by the authority of law.
Article 142: A constitutional clause empowering the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to ensure complete justice in a case.
Tripura’s Unakoti District: A district in northeastern India where protests against the Waqf Act reportedly escalated into police clashes in April 2025.
“Victimhood Narrative”: A political or rhetorical tactic where a community projects itself as perpetually under threat, often to justify aggression or consolidate power.