Patna: Senior BJP leader in Bihar cum Deputy Chief Minister of the state Vijay Kumar Sinha warned on Friday that those who protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill would be treated as “traitors” and will be jailed, The Indian Express (TIE) reported.
The Bill has been passed by both Houses of Parliament.
“Those who are threatening not to comply with the Waqf amendment will have to go to jail. This is not Pakistan, this is Hindustan. This is the Narendra Modi government,” TIE quoted the leader.
He continued that the Bill had been passed in both Houses of Parliament, and those who still said they would not accept it should be immediately arrested.
“The Bill is duly passed in both Houses of Parliament. Those who still say they will not accept it are traitors. Such people should be immediately arrested,” he said.
JD(U) MLC Ghulam Gous, who is an ally of the BJP-led NDA government in the state, came down on the Bill, saying that when the judge himself is the killer, he should be on the go for justice. He slammed the BJP and wondered why, if the saffron party really thinks of Muslims’ welfare, it is not implementing recommendations of the Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission and the Justice R Sachchar Committee report.
When another leader and former MP of the party, Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi, protested the Bill, a district leader from East Champaran, Mohammad Qasim Ansari, quit the party.
Meanwhile, a senior Muslim leader of the JD(U) told TIE that he was not sure if Nitish Kumar was fully confident in the party’s support of the bill. He said that it is learnt that the Chief Minister wanted controversial parts of the Bill to be redressed before his party lent its support to the BJP.