Encroachment of Wakf properties: Former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai seeks SIT probe

Hubballi, Vijayapur: Former Chief Minister and Haveri-Gadag BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order a Special Investigation Team or CBI probe into the findings the Anwar Manippady report on encroachment of wakf properties.

Manippady, the then chairman of the Karnataka State Minority Commission, submitted a report to the BJP government in 2012 which allegedly named several state and national Congress leaders of encroaching the wakf properties.

In his post on ‘X’, Bommai said, “I urge the Chief Minister to immediately order for SIT or CID probe to take action based on the Anwar Manippady report on encroachment of wakf properties.”

Reacting to an old video of his, released by Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, claiming that he had asked the Wakf Board to take over farmers’ lands, Bommai said he had only asked the Board to reclaim waqf properties encroached by the Congress leaders as per the Manippady report.

“I did not convene any Wakf Board meeting. At a wakf event, I only spoke about Manipaddy committee report, which mentioned about the encroachment of wakf properties by the Congress leaders. My government did not issue any notice to farmers, nor did we seize any farmers’ land,” Bommai said.

On CM Siddaramaiah’s instruction to officials on withdrawing notices to farmers, Bommai called it a political gimmick to mislead the people.

The CM should revoke gazette notifications on wakf properties, if he really cares about protecting farmers’ lands, Bommai said.

Senior BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said on Sunday that he would stage an indefinite overnight protest in front of the DC office in Vijayapura starting Monday, demanding the government to delete words wakf property mentioned in the revenue records of land belonging to farmers, government, mutts and religious institutions.

“The government should take immediate steps to delete ‘wakf property’ mentioned in any of the columns of RTC records of lands belonging to farmers. Any dispute pertaining to wakf should be referred to jurisdictional courts and not to the wakf tribunal,” Yatnal said in a press release.

He reiterated that the Centre should scrap the Wakf Act and nationalise wakf properties. He urged the government to revoke gazette notification on wakf issued on or after 1974.

Yatnal said that state and national leaders will take part in the dharna and urged people from all walks of life to extend support to the agitation.