Fears among Muslims

While many Muslims agree that waqfs suffer from corruption, encroachments and poor management, they also fear that the new law could give India’s Hindu nationalist government far greater control over Muslim property, particularly at a time when attacks against minority communities have become more aggressive under Modi, with Muslims often targeted for everything from their food and clothing styles to inter-religious marriages.

Last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its annual report that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate while Modi and his party “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign.

Modi’s government says India is run on democratic principles of equality and no discrimination exists in the country.

Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, are the largest minority group in the Hindu-majority nation, but they are also the poorest, a 2013 government survey found.