TMC Faces Criticism After Ordering Waqf Data Submission to Centre Amid Policy Reversal Claims

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has quietly directed all district magistrates to immediately upload details of the state’s undisputed Waqf properties to the Centre’s UMEED portal by December 6, despite having publicly vowed not to implement the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Act passed earlier this year. The sudden compliance has triggered intense political backlash and accusations of a complete policy reversal by the Trinamool Congress administration.

According to official sources, the state minority affairs department has instructed DMs to convene urgent meetings with imams, muezzins, and madrasa teachers to explain the uploading process and establish facilitation centres wherever technical assistance is required. Only uncontested properties are to be registered, covering thousands of Waqf estates that include mosques, graveyards, and educational institutions across Bengal’s 23 districts.

The Centre’s directive applies to all states and mandates registration of 8,063 Waqf estates comprising around 82,000 properties in West Bengal alone. Senior state officials defended the move by stating there is no Supreme Court stay on the administrative requirement of data uploading, making compliance obligatory within the stipulated timeframe even as legal challenges to other provisions of the amended Act continue.

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The BJP has seized the opportunity to attack Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of betraying the Muslim community after earlier positioning herself as the strongest opponent of the amendments. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanded an apology for the communal violence in Murshidabad and Malda earlier this year, which he claimed was incited by Trinamool’s anti-amendment rhetoric that ultimately led to loss of lives and destruction of Hindu-owned property.

Trinamool Congress leaders have countered that their fundamental opposition to the Waqf (Amendment) Act remains unchanged, insisting the current exercise is merely an administrative formality and not acceptance of the law itself. With the December 6 deadline approaching, the episode has exposed fresh fault lines between Kolkata and New Delhi while placing the state government under intense scrutiny over its shifting stance on one of the most sensitive religious property issues in the country.

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