• India passes bills to reform Muslim land ownership organizations.
• Opposition accused the Modi government of promoting “polarized politics.”
• The government believes Bill will increase transparency to the strong WAQF board.

New Delhi: The Indian Parliament passed a bill on Thursday to reform wealthy Muslim land-owned organizations, which the Indian nationalist government said would promote a sense of responsibility, while the opposition called it an “attack” against minorities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government believes the bill will increase transparency to control over more than a dozen powerful WAQF boards, which controls property granted by the Muslim charitable endowment foundation.

There are about twenty WAQF boards throughout India, with about 900,000 acres (365,00 hectares), a multi-billion dollar property empire that makes them one of the largest landholders next to the railway and the Wehrmacht.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the bill on Wednesday, saying it would examine corruption and mismanagement and reduce several deeply rooted groups.

The bill was passed by the lower house of parliament as the marathon debate stretched into the early hours of Thursday.

It is expected to be adopted by the House of Lords late Thursday, with greater power handed over to civil servants under the supervision of the WAQF board.

Home Minister and close aide Amit Shah said the changes will help “catch the people who lease their property” to get personal gain.

“This money can be used to help minority groups grow,” he said.

Shah said non-Muslims who will be included on the board as part of the new bill will only participate in “administrative” matters.

However, the opposition accused the government of promoting “polarized politics” at the expense of 200 million Indian Muslim minorities.

Opposition Congress Director Rahul Gandhi said: “The WAQF (Amendment) bill is a weapon designed to marginalize Muslims and usurp their personal laws and property rights.”

Gandhi called it a “attack” by Indian nationalists, accusing him of “targeting Muslims today but setting a precedent for other communities in the future.

The opposition viewed the bill as part of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)’s efforts to win favor with its right-wing Hindu base.

Modi’s BJP supported the right-wing’s claim on the construction of mosques by ancient Hindu temples and led efforts to build a large Hindu temple at the ruins of the Mughal-ers mosques demolished in Ayodhya.