The Waqf Bill tells every Indian Muslim “You are not an equal citizen of India, know your place, your rights are not the same as ours.” Never felt so sad, so ashamed as I did in Lok Sabha yesterday – Mahua Moitra, TMC , MP

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The Contentious Waqf Amendment bill passed the parliament test after Rajya Sabha after  a marathon debate passed the bill with 128 and 95 against it .

Punches and counterpunches between the ruling BJP-led NDA and opposition INDIA bloc, which showed signs of common purpose during as the session drew to a close, ran through the sitting that saw more than 100 per cent productivity in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Reacting to the passing of the bills in both the houses of Parliament , TMC MP Mahua Moitra called the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025 “unfair,” and said that it is a very “dark day” in India’s secular democracy.

“There is only a fifty vote gap difference here and you realise just how unpopular and against the mandate of the public this bill is. It is only because of the party whip and the two allies that they have managed to get through by the skin of their teeth…It is a very dark day in India’s secular democracy, where the government has brought a bill which is unfair and against the fundamental rights…The amendments are sending a very chilling effect to the Muslim community,” Moitra told reporters.

The articulate MP, Mahua later tweeted on X and wrote , The Waqf Bill tells every Indian Muslim “You are not an equal citizen of India, know your place, your rights are not the same as ours.” Never felt so sad, so ashamed as I did in Lok Sabha yesterday.

Earlier, Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the early hours of Thursday, April 3, after an 12-hour-long debate, with 288 members voting for it and 232 voting against.

In his reply to the debate, Union Minorities Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said there is no place in the world safer than India for minorities and they are safe because the majority is entirely secular.