Waqf bill: BJP member offers to quote from Quran, surprises Rajya Sabha

BJP's Radha Mohan Das Agrawal claimed proficiency in Quranic studies during an RS debate, evidencing Quranic mandates on financial documentation to argue for the waqf bill. He highlighted a lack of religious support for undocumented waqf property, stating no religious scholar could counter his interpretations.

NEW DELHI: BJP's Radha Mohan Das Agrawal surprised RS Thursday by claiming to have studied the Quran and offering to present four specific verses during his speech supporting the waqf bill . "I am a member of JPC, they (opposition) are also members. They are witnesses to the fact that whenever religious scholars were called as witnesses, I quoted the Quran to them," he said.

Agrawal asserted that certain verses prove that the Quran mandates written documentation of all financial transactions, contrasting this with waqf's alleged lack of property records. "I read the Quran and asked them to show me a single verse or Hadith that states that if a property has not been donated explicitly, it can still be considered waqf by the user. Not one of them could answer my question," he said.

"They kept calling me 'Maulana' because I had read the Quran," he said, adding that it was good that Hindus were conversant with all the verses in Quran. "Otherwise, all hell would break loose." tnn.