If one were to translate this name into Spanish it could be called “El Dorado”. Meaning of land of gold, root word to be honuGold in Kannada. However, this village in Vijayapura district of northern Karnataka is seeing very little shine. Everyone is apprehensive, and few are willing to talk about why their village is now in the news.
Honwad recently came into limelight when MP and BJP Yuva Morcha leader Tejaswi Surya claimed that the Karnataka Waqf Board had conspired to take over 1,500 acres of land in the village and issued notices to hundreds of farmers to evict them from their land. Had demanded. Had been farming for centuries and had all the documents of ownership. Advocate Surya said that his office is open to farmers from across Karnataka who have complaints against the Waqf Board.
MB Patil, Karnataka’s Industries Minister and MLA from Babaleshwar constituency, which is part of Honnawad, denied the allegations. He released documents to show that no notices had been issued in Honnawad village, although he admitted that 124 notices had been issued elsewhere in the district.
Gram Panchayat President Tukaram Dhadke confirmed this The Hindu. “We have held three meetings in the village in the last few days, one by Congress leaders, the second by BJP and the third by our village elders. We asked the farmers to show the notice. No one came forward because no one had received anything.” Patil claimed that all the confusion arose due to the name of Takke area in Vijayapura being erroneously mentioned in brackets as “Honavad”.
A washing ghat allegedly built by encroachment on the cemetery land in Honavad village of Vijayapura district. , Photo Courtesy: Bediger PK
political conflict
Patil said the government has not carried out any mutation in Honavad village. Surya countered this by sharing a photo of the rights, tenancy and crop records (RTC), which said that about 9.14 acres of cemetery land had been mutilated by the state government. However, the RTC date states that it was done in 2022 when the BJP was in power in the state.
Interestingly, the total agricultural land under Honavad Gram Panchayat is less than 1,100 acres, which belongs to about 900 families. The 2020 gazette mentions only 14 acres of waqf land in the village.
Minority Welfare and Waqf Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan stressed that the 124 notices issued in Vijayapura district were the only notices issued in the state. He termed as “false” the BJP’s claim that more than 21,000 notices were issued. “We have organized 10 Waqf courts in different districts to hear people’s complaints and remove encroachments. These courts are not against the farmers but their objective is to remove encroachments. We issued notices in Vijayapura as it holds a major part of the total waqf properties,” he said, adding that the BJP government had made changes in 140 RTCs during its rule without giving notice to farmers.
Fakruddin Mulla is an Anjuman committee member from Honvad village in Vijayapura district. , Photo Courtesy: Bediger PK
who did it?
In Belagavi district, former MP and BJP leader Anna Saheb Jolle complained that his land has been claimed by the Waqf Board. He alleged that the Congress government of the state has recorded the name of the board in column 11 of their RTC. When journalists pointed out that the change in RTC was made in 2021, when the BJP was in power, he said he had “noticed it only a few hours before the press conference”.
In Hukkeri, Athani, Gokak and Chikkodi – all in Belagavi district – some farmers protested in front of tehsildar offices displaying RTCs. All 16 RTCs reveal that they were replaced by officials when the BJP was in power in Karnataka. Congress leader Raju Alagur released copies of the BJP’s manifesto, which promised to “protect Waqf properties” by removing encroachments.
Two officials of the Revenue Commissionerate said that issuing notices and warning mutations for filing claims in Column 11 has been being done since 1995. “On an average 100-200 notices have been issued, and around 50 mutations have been made every year for inserting claims in Column 11. ,
A senior Waqf Board official said the original total area of Waqf land in the state was about 1.12 lakh acres. Of these, 75,000 acres were lost under the Land Reforms and Inam Abolition Act. These were distributed to landless farmers and tenants. It is estimated that of the remaining land, about 20,000 acres have been encroached upon.
“A letter from the Additional Chief Secretary has asked officials to take action to ensure mutation of 21,767 RTCs. All these were related to encroachment. However, these cannot be done unilaterally. They should be done following proper procedure. “The process was started but stopped after protests by farmers and opposition parties,” another revenue official said.
Ahead of by-elections to three constituencies in Karnataka on November 13, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced withdrawal of all notices given to farmers, while the BJP continues its protest.
fear and boiling anger
In Honvad, there is a palpable sense of anger and fear. “We don’t want to talk about it because everyone thinks that Muslims in Honwad are trying to grab the farming land of Hindus. This is not true, and our Hindu brothers in the village know it. But outsiders think we are land grabbers. It is difficult to convince them otherwise,” says Anwar Bagwan, a small farmer and fruit trader from the village. The village has about 1,700 Muslim voters, of which about 12,000 are adults.
The graveyard, or graveyard, as it has now become notorious, is situated on the other side of the village. It surrounds the shrine of the medieval era Sufi saint Mehboob Subhani, who has followers from all religions. There is a cluster of eight cemeteries covering a total of 23 acres, where all the eight major communities of the village bury or cremate their dead. Dominant communities like Lingayats and Kurubas have fenced their lands.
The most unsafe part here is where Muslims bury their dead. Although 9.14 acres of area has been identified in the gazette as Waqf Board property, only half of it is available for burials. It has been encroached on from three sides. On one side is the Dhobi Ghat built by the Gram Panchayat, on the other side is the village road and on the other side is the open defecation ground for women. “About 4.5 acres of the cemetery is now left. But some villagers are not allowing us to fence and protect this stretch as well,” says Fakruddin Mulla, a member of the Anjuman committee that protects public land.
Mullah, who does farming on his ancestral land, is actually a BJP leader. He emphasizes that there were no differences between Hindus and Muslims until the 1990s. “But the problems started after the Babarji Masjid riots,” he says, describing the many clashes that have occurred from time to time, in which he intervenes to broker a settlement.
Anwar Bagwan is a farmer from Honvad village in Vijayapura district. , Photo Courtesy: Bediger PK
big impact
The BJP-led campaign against serving notices to the Waqf Board, which started in Honaism, has now spread across the state. BJP leaders have alleged that farmers from Kalaburagi, Bidar, Shivamogga and several other districts have also raised similar concerns as their RTCs now mention, “Waqf property, transactions banned.” This has called upon farmers across the state to check their RTCs and complain to the concerned Deputy Commissioners, creating a panic situation.
A few weeks ago, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a former Union minister known for expressing anti-Muslim sentiments, organized an anti-Waqf rally in Vijayapura, where several leaders demanded the abolition of the Waqf Board and the resignation of Siddaramaiah and Khan. of. Union minister Pralhad Joshi slammed Khan for describing Waqf property as “the property of Allah”. BJP leaders have termed the notice given as “land jihad”.
Jagdambika Pal, chairperson of the joint parliamentary committee considering the controversial Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, visited Vijayapura on Thursday and met some of the aggrieved farmers. After this Surya wrote a letter to JPC. He assured the farmers that the NDA government will not allow injustice to be done to them. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bringing the amendment bill only to see that the provisions of the Waqf Act are not misused,” he said.
Surya said, “The number of cases of agricultural land being claimed by the Waqf Board in Karnataka is increasing rapidly during the period when the JPC on the Bill is meeting to deliberate on the reforms of the Waqf Act, 1995.” Still working.” post stroke.
not just a local issue
Sampath Kumar Shetty, a lawyer from Athani, is preparing to fight for the farmers affected by the Waqf issue pro bono. “I have collected land records and other documents of around 20 farmers so far. “I will seek more and file a single petition in the high court,” he says.
Shetty explains that most of the RTCs they found were mutated between 2018-2023. However, he says it is not important which party did it.
“It is the system that allows this kind of discrimination that is the problem. Our fight is against the idea of arbitrary and sweeping powers given to the Waqf Board, such as exemption from claims of adverse possession, presumptive ownership, waqf by use, oral donation and onus on the other party to prove ownership,” he said. “We hope that the proposed bill to amend the Waqf Acts piloted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will rid them of all such discriminatory provisions.”
However, lawyer, RTI activist and Congress legal cell secretary Bhimagouda Paragonda accuses the BJP of conspiring against Muslims. “The Waqf Board issue is a part of the BJP’s election and by-election campaign. This is nothing but another Islamophobic propaganda move. Anyway, the Chief Minister has issued orders to withdraw the notice and undo the mutation in Column 11,” he said. Paragonda is also assisting farmers who want resolution of the Waqf issue.
“The Waqf Board and the Waqf Tribunal are statutory bodies protected by Part III of the Indian Constitution. Issuance of notices, presentation of claims by the Waqf Board by mutation of the RTC, efforts to remove encroachments through legal and executive measures, and legal battles in courts by the Board to protect its properties are routine processes. Pargonda said, the issue of notices and mutation entries has been done across the country, in every district of Karnataka, at all times, during the rule of all parties. He said the issuance of the notice is strengthening the case of the original owners as they can submit their documents to the DC office and counter the board’s claims.
He said provisions like exemption from claims of adverse possession, presumptive ownership, implied donation by use, oral donation and onus of the other party to prove ownership provide protection to all types of religious properties – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Christian. provide. And others and not just Islamic. “Such protection is also given to some government assets like defence. Moreover, we cannot have one law for one religion and different laws for another. This would be unconstitutional, discriminatory and arbitrary. That is why the argument of Hindutva leaders that Hindu temples should be given autonomy while Islamic organizations should be strictly regulated by the government is not logical,” he said.
published – November 08, 2024 06:28 am IST
