Waqf Bill Support Triggers Rift Within Jdu, 5th Leader Quits Party, RLD Leaders Quits In UP

New Delhi: Five senior leaders of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) resigned from the party by Friday, signalling discontent within a section of the party over its backing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. The legislation, which sparked a storm within the NDA ally ahead of the upcoming Bihar elections, cleared both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha this week.
The latest resignation came from Tabrez Hasan, the party’s youth wing vice president. Before him, JDU Minority Cell State Secretary Mohammad Shahnawaz Malik, State General Secretary Mohammad Tabrez Siddiqui from Aligarh, Bhojpur-based member Mohammad Dilshan Rain, and former candidate Mohammad Qasim Ansari also stepped down.
Tabrez Hasan sent his resignation letter to the JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday. In his resignation letter, he said that the party’s support for the bill had broken the trust of Muslims, who believed that it stood for secular values.
“I had hoped you would maintain your secular image, but you chose to stand with forces that have repeatedly worked against Muslims,” Hasan wrote in a letter addressed to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He said the NDA government’s Waqf Bill followed earlier moves such as the abrogation of Article 370, triple talaq law, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, which he said harmed Muslim interests.
Hasan added that he had submitted memorandums in Urdu and Hindi urging the party to oppose the bill, but they were ignored. He said the resignation was a result of deep thought. “This is not the end of my responsibility, but a new beginning,” he said.
Meanwhile, similar developments were seen in the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), another NDA ally that backed the Waqf Bill in Parliament. In Uttar Pradesh, Shahzaib Rizvi, state general secretary of RLD, resigned from the party on Friday. In his resignation letter, he accused party chief Jayant Chaudhary of “abandoning secularism” and failing to support Muslims. “Muslims supported Jayant Chaudhary in large numbers, but he did not stand with us when it mattered,” Rizvi said.
The RLD also saw other resignations at the district level. Mohammad Zaki, district general secretary in Hapur, resigned along with a group of local leaders. In a letter to the state party chief, Zaki wrote that the party had remained silent on Muslim issues and had chosen power over principles. “It has become clear that the party leadership now prioritises political ambition over the public’s interest,” he said.
Zaki thanked the the 232 opposition MPs who voted against the Waqf Bill. “Even if the government had the numbers, history will remember who stood with the Constitution,” he wrote.
In a post-midnight push, Parliament cleared the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, after an intense debate in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The bill secured passage with 128 votes in favour and 95 against, following its earlier approval in the Lok Sabha, where it saw a tighter contest — 288 MPs supported it, while 232 opposed. Though the legislative battle is over in Parliament, the political storm around the Waqf Bill is far from settled. In Bihar, the issue is expected to remain a hot topic well into the run-up to the state assembly elections later this year.