Vijayapura
A waqf land dispute is not only causing unrest among Hindu farmers, but it is also affecting Muslim farmers in North Karnataka, especially in district.
MC Mulla, President of the Karnataka Mulla Association, told that Mullas, Kulkarnis, Pujaris, Jahagirdars, Inamdars, and Mujawars were given land during the rule of kings to manage temples, mosques, and other religious establishments. Now, the government has also added the waqf name to these inam lands. Such notices were also issued during the previous BJP government’s tenure in the state, he added.
He observed that about 1,000 Muslim farmers, with some of them from families of Adil Shahi-era land grantees, are adding the waqf name to their RTCs.
Aravind Kulkarni, State Secretary of the Akhanda Karnataka Raita Sangha, said that farmers have no caste. “People who believe in cultivating Mother Earth are all farmers. We have information that even Muslim farmers are not spared from waqf clutches in Basavan Bagewadi, Babaleshwar, Tikota, Indi, Sindagi, and Muddebihal taluks. However, they are hesitating to come forward to agitate as the issue has taken a political and religious turn. Whether we are Hindus or Muslims, we all demand the abolition of the 1974 gazette notification, he asserted.
A group of Muslim farmers in Muddebihal said that they went to join protests but returned as many co-protesters were angry with the Muslim community. We are neither beneficiaries of waqf nor land grabbers. We have been helpless and cannot even air our grievance in the current situation, which has taken a political and religious turn now, they stated.
