Muslims MPs, MLAs wear black armbands at Friday prayers

New Delhi: Several Muslims, including MPs and MLAs, wore black armbands while attending Jumma prayers on the last Friday of Ramzan as a mark of protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) claimed.

The AIMPLB had earlier urged Muslims to wear a black armband when they go for Jumma prayers on the last Friday of Ramzan as a mark of their protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, general secretary Maulana Fazlurraheem Mujaddidi, vice president Syed Sadatullah Hussaini, and secretary Maulana Umrain Mahfooz Rahmani, among others, wore black armbands.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, IUML MP Kani Navas, Congress MP Imran Masood, Karnataka Assembly MLA Rizwan Arshad, were among the lawmakers, who sported the armband while praying Jumma in the mosques they offered prayers at. “Today, on the last Friday of Ramadan, i.e. Juma-tul-Vida, crores of Indian Muslims tied black bands on their hands and registered peaceful protest against the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024. Muslims reject this bill!” the AIMPLB claimed in a post on X. “We demand the government to immediately withdraw this unconstitutional Waqf Amendment Bill!” it said.

A large number of Muslims in Patna and other cities also wore black armbands during Jumma prayers on the last Friday of Ramzan in protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Several Muslims posted pictures of themselves wearing the armband on social media as directed by the AIMPLB with the hashtag ‘India Against Waqf Bill’.

The AIMPLB on Sunday announced a nationwide agitation against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, with large sit-ins planned in front of the state assemblies in Patna and Vijayawada on March 26 and 29, respectively, as part of the first phase of the protest.

The protests against the Waqf Bill rocked Bihar on Wednesday, from the legislature to the streets, as political parties within the state and outside stood in solidarity with the AIMPLB, which organised a ‘maha dharna’ in Patna. The AIMPLB demonstrations were held barely a kilometre away from the Vidhan Sabha premises, to demand rollback of the Bill brought by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and to request “secular” leaders like Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to reconsider “support” to the contentious legislation.

The AIMPLB’s 31-member Action Committee has resolved to adopt all constitutional, legal and democratic means to oppose the bill, which it has described as “controversial, discriminatory and damaging”. Major rallies are scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Malerkotla (Punjab) and Ranchi, the AIMPLB had said in a statement. The AIMPLB’s statement comes after Parliament’s joint committee submitted its report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.