(MENAFN- Live Mint) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on April 14 that misuse of Waqf land in the past pushed young Muslims into fixing cycle puncture jobs. Modi's remark basically backed the recent amendment in the laws governing the management of Waqf properties across the country.

"...The Waqf property should have helped poor women and children (of the community). Had it been sincerely used for reforms, my Muslim youths would not have been required to fix puncture of cycles," Modi said in Hisar.

Had it been implemented sincerely, my Muslim youth would not have been required to fix puncture of cycles.

Modi's remark came less than a week after the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, came into force. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the during the recently-concluded Budget Session of Parliament. President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the proposed law on April 5.

Also Read | 'Poor, Pasmanda Muslims will get rights back': PM Modi on Waqf Act

The new law has amended the Waqf Act, 1995, which governed the management and supervision of waqf properties in India. The amendment introduces changes related to record maintenance, dispute resolution, and oversight mechanisms concerning waqf properties.

All state waqf boards are now required to digitise records of waqf properties and upload them to a centralised portal . The law also mandates the establishment of a time-bound mechanism for resolving disputes through designated waqf tribunals.

Vote bank-hungry Congress

Modi attacked the Congress leaders, calling them“vote bank-hungry politicians.” He asked why Congress never appointed a Muslim as their party chief.

Also Read | 'Poor, Pasmanda Muslims will get rights back': PM Modi on Waqf Act

“....if you truly have even a little sympathy for Muslims in your heart, then why doesn't the Congress party make a Muslim the party president? Why don't they do it?” Modi said while addressing a rally in Haryana's Hisar after flagging off the first commercial flight from the Maharaja Agrasen airport in Hisar to Ayodhya town in Uttar Pradesh. He also laid the foundation stone of a new terminal building at the airport.

Puncture-wallah jibe

Puncture-wallah (people who fix punctures) is a derogatory reference to Muslims. In 2019, Tejasvi Surya, the BJP MP drew criticism after he said that only“puncture-wallahs and illiterates” were protesting against the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Taking a jibe at Surya's“puncture-wala” comment, Hyderabad MP an AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that eventually, BJP's tyres are also going to be punctured.

“If somebody is a puncture-wala, what is wrong in that? They repair punctured tyres in the sun and rain. He could be a crorepati. How will he know what is the value of a puncture-wala?” Owaisi had said.

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