After supporting the Waqf Amendment Bill, the Janata Dal (United) is still feeling political aftershocks, as seen by the resignation of Mohammad Tabrez Siddiqui, another prominent leader from the minority section.

“I never expected JDU to back the Waqf Amendment Bill,” Siddiqui, the State General Secretary of JDU’s Minority Wing, said in a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The party’s position in Parliament depresses me. As a result, I step down from my main membership and all of my roles within the party.

He warned that JDU will suffer repercussions in the Bihar Assembly elections later this year and accused the party of compromising its secular credentials.

“There will be an exodus from JDU due to widespread dissatisfaction on this issue,” he said.

Siddiqui joins a rising number of minority leaders who have left the party, such as senior JDU leader from Jamui, Mohammad Shahnawaz Malik, and former JDU candidate from Dhaka (East Champaran), Mohammad Kasim Ansari.

All have called JDU’s backing of the Waqf Bill an insult to Indian Muslims’ feelings and a violation of secular norms.

Ansari sent a letter of resignation to Nitish Kumar on Thursday, expressing his profound unhappiness with the party’s backing of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

“This belief has been dispelled,” Ansari said. “Like myself, many members of the Muslim community had considered Nitish Kumar to be a symbol of secularism.”

He went on to say, “The way JD-U supported the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has deeply hurt Indian Muslims and party workers like me.”

The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the two houses of parliament, have both approved the Waqf Amendment Bill. It was praised as a move toward “socio-economic justice and transparency” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to BJP officials, it would help impoverished and backward Muslims, especially Pasmandas, stop the exploitation of Waqf land, and increase accountability in the administration of Waqf properties.

Opposition parties and Muslim leaders, on the other hand, see the measure as an outright assault on the rights of minorities and claim that it is being used as a means of reclaiming Waqf lands and further marginalizing the community in the name of reform.