YSRCP challenges Waqf Act in Supreme Court, says it violates fundamental rights
The YSRCP has joined the bandwagon of political outfits and leaders who have filed a petition against the Waqf Act, 2025 and have challenged its constitutional validity in the Supreme Court. The Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party filed a plea against the Act, which was passed by both houses of Parliament recently.
The YSRCP has raised serious concerns over what it calls a violation of fundamental rights, citing Articles 13, 14, 25, and 26 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before law, freedom of religion and the autonomy of religious communities to manage their own affairs.
Before the YSRCP, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MPs Mohammad Jawed and Imran Pratapgarhi, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad and Samajwadi Party MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq, among others, have challenged the contentious Act in the top court.
The YSRCP has expressed strong opposition to Sections 9 and 14 of the Act, which allow the inclusion of non-Muslim members on Waqf Boards. The party argues that it is not only inappropriate but unconstitutional, and asserts that such a move “strips Muslim institutions of their right to self-govern”.
“This is not inclusion, it’s interference,” a source close to the legal team said. “You can’t uphold secularism by violating religious autonomy.”
Several organisations have also filed petitions, the most prominent being the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). It called the legislation and the amendments by Parliament “arbitrary, discriminatory and based on exclusion”.
Others include Maulana Arshad Madani of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulema, the Social Democratic Party of India, the Indian Union Muslim League, and the Association for Protection of Civil Rights.
The DMK in Tamil Nadu has also approached the Supreme Court. Its MP A Raja, who was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Bill, has filed a petition in the top court.
Legal experts say the case could test the limits of state involvement in religious affairs. “This goes beyond the Waqf Boards,” said a constitutional lawyer. “It raises bigger questions about how far the state can go in managing institutions that are religious in nature.”
While the various petitions challenging the new law are in court, the anti-Waqf Act protests have been raging in parts of West Bengal, where at least three people have been killed in violence in Murshidabad.
The Supreme Court has listed a batch of petitions against the Waqf Act for hearing on April 16.
