How the Waqf (Amendment) Act is driving anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh

On April 15, as Bangladesh’s capital sweltered under a heatwave, hundreds of activists from the Islami Andolan Bangladesh gathered outside Dhaka’s Baitul Mukarram Mosque. They carried banners declaring, “Stop Hindu aggression on waqf lands” and “Save Muslim identity”.

A day earlier, India’s Supreme Court grappled with a paradox: can a law that claimed to ensure transparency in managing Islamic endowments coexist with the rights of minorities in a secular democracy?

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, passed by India’s Parliament on April 4, has become a rallying cry for Bangladesh’s embattled Islamist parties. Their rhetoric, framing the bill as a “Hindu nationalist land grab”, has ignited protests and deepened anti-India sentiment.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government argues that the law modernises a system plagued by corruption and inefficiency. However, critics, however, see a Trojan horse. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board claimed it is unconstitutional, while Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain accused the BJP of fuelling communal polarisation.

In Dhaka, the law has been weaponised. On April 15, the far-right Khilafat Majlis called for a march to the Indian Embassy, alleging that the BJP is “building temples on waqf lands” and “killing Muslims”.

Days earlier, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party warned the bill could “destabilise religious harmony” and urged India to reconsider it. Even the Labour Party...

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