RTI reply reveals AAP govt has given Rs 101 crore to Delhi Waqf board since 2015

New Delhi, Oct 28: An RTI response has revealed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's AAP government has given over Rs 101 crore of public funds to the Delhi Waqf board since coming to power in 2015 and Rs 62.57 crore alone was given in 2021.

According to a news report published in OpIndia citing the RTI response,In his first year in office (2015-16), Kejriwal government granted Rs. 1.25 crores to the Waqf Board, but the numbers kept increasing year after year, the RTI response received by activist Ajay Bose reveals. In 2016-17, it was Rs 1.37 crore, Rs 5 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 8.85 crore in 2018-19.

From Rs 1.25 crore in 2015, it went to Rs 22.72 crore by 2019-20. However, no grants were given in 2020-21. However, the Delhi government gave Rs 62.57 crore a year (2021) after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.

In total, the AAP government has given Rs 101.76 crore in the last seven years, the RTI response claimed. A photo detailing the grants is doing rounds on social media.

Before the AAP government came to power, the Congress-led-UPA government had gifted 123 government properties in Delhi to Waqf in 2014, according to a 2022 report in Times Now.

The properties are reportedly located in prime locations such as Connaught Place, Ashoka Road, Mathura Road and other VVIP enclaves, it said. The decision, which was conveyed through a secret note, to gift the said properties were taken before the 2014 General Elections in which the BJP under Narendra Modi's leadership registered thumping victory.