New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police has cancelled all leaves for gazetted officers and non-gazetted personnel, ostensibly anticipating tensions as the Waqf Amendment Bill makes its way through parliament.
Times of India has reported that police personnel along with units of the central paramilitary forces conducted flag marches in 22 districts, including Meerut, Saharanpur, Kanpur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Agra, Sambhal and Lucknow, on Wednesday, when the Bill was discussed in the Lok Sabha.
It was passed late at night and will be taken up in the Rajya Sabha today (April 3).
The amendment renames the 1995 Waqf Act to the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act (UMEED). On pen and paper, it seeks to enhance the efficiency of the administration and management of Waqf properties, but it has faced criticism for seeking to change the composition of the Central Waqf Council and the state Waqf boards. The Union government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (also in power in Uttar Pradesh) has also faced allegations from the opposition of not taking its suggestions and steamrolling the legislation.
The director general of police’s headquarters has issued orders asking all officers and staff members who had been on approved leave to return to their respective duty stations “without delay.”
An unnamed senior police officer told TOI that the precautionary measures are supposed to prevent any unrest given Navratri and “upcoming festivals”.
PTI has separately reported that a flag march led by District Magistrate Umesh Mishra and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abhishek Singh in sensitive areas of Muzaffarnagar. It has been over 12 years since communal riots took place in Muzaffarnagar.
Communal flare-ups have been common in Uttar Pradesh, which is headed by Hindutva posterchild Adityanath, whose anti-Muslim hate speech has earned him a significant following across the country. In several situations involving communal tension in the last few years, Muslims have been made the accused and their homes and property have been bulldozed even before investigations have taken place.
