The Chhattisgarh Waqf Board has made it compulsory for all Friday sermons delivered at mosques in the state to be vetted beforehand, “to prevent political speeches being made under the guise of worship.”
Chairman of the Chhattisgarh Waqf Board Salim Raj said that mosque sermons should focus solely on Islamic teachings and avoid political content.
Raj, who is also the head of BJP’s minority affairs wing in the state, told The Indian Express that a mosque “shouldn’t be turned into a political adda [place].”
“It’s unfortunate that the place is used to issue fatwas [Islamic rulings] and decide who to vote and whom not to vote…They must talk about Islam, what it says and the message of Allah. Politics must be left for politicians,” he said.
“The order will be effective this Friday,” he added while announcing that the board would send letters detailing the new rules to the state’s 3,800 mosques.
“The waqf board of the BJP government of Chhattisgarh wants that before giving the Jummah [Friday] sermon, the khatib [person who delivers religious sermons] should get his sermon checked by the Waqf Board and should not give the sermon without the permission of the board,” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi wrote in a post on social media. “Now BJP people will tell us what is religion? Do I have to take permission from them to follow my religion? The Waqf Board has no such legal power, and even if it had, it would have been against Article 25 of the Constitution.”
“The Waqf Board has the authority to assess its properties but does not have the power to give instructions on what a maulana or mutawalli can say in their speeches inside mosques. This is unconstitutional and the Congress party condemns this,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla to The Indian Express.
