NEW DELHI: With the government set to reintroduce the contentious Waqf Bill (amendment) in Parliament next week for passage, the focus has shifted to four NDA allies who have a strong support base among Muslims in their respective states. Amid protests by Muslim bodies, Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that the Waqf Bill will be introduced in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, which concludes on April 4.The firm stance by several Muslim organisations against the Waqf Bill has put the NDA allies — Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — between a rock and a hard place. Muslim groups have told them to either ‘withdraw support to the bill or risk losing their support’. Significantly, Muslim organisations boycotted an Iftar party hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his support to the bill. However, the JD (U) maintained that the party held wide consultations with Muslim bodies, adding the changes suggested by it have been accepted by the JPC scrutinising the bill.Congress sources said that the Opposition is on a ‘wait and watch mode’ on the stand of the NDA allies. “JD (U) and TDP will be exposed if they support the Bill in Parliament,” said a leader.In a sign of ‘all is not well’ is the NDA camp in poll-bound Bihar, Union minister and LJP chief Chirag Paswan expressed dismay over ally BJP’s communal rhetoric. “I have always maintained that religion is a personal choice and we shouldn’t interfere in it. We are in alliance with the BJP, but I am against playing Hindu-Muslim politics,” he said. On Saturday, Paswan came down heavily on the UP police’s diktat of taking legal action and cancelling passports of those who offer Eid namaz on roads. His comments came a day after another Union minister and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary described the UP government’s move as “policing towards Orwellian 1984”.
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