MUMBAI, May 28 -- The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), which subscribes to the Hindutva ideology of the BJP-led Mahayuti government, has raised its voice against the draft of the proposed Maharashtra Devasthan Inams Abolition Draft Act, 2026 on temple lands. It has questioned the exemption of Waqf properties from the purview of the law and also demanded the formation of a 'Sanatan Board' on the lines of the Waqf Board to look after temple lands. On Tuesday, an HJS delegation met revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule to express its displeasure with the draft law and the exclusion of Waqf properties from it. HJS organiser Sunil Ghanwat said they had demanded more time to submit their objections and Bawankule had assured them that the deadline would be extended to June 30. The HJS has also begun to mobilise people to oppose the proposed law. A state-level 'Devasthan Land Protection Conference' was held on Monday at Dadar, where temple trustees, legal experts and Hindu organisations from across Maharashtra gathered, and unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the government immediately and unconditionally withdraw the proposed legislation. Speakers at the conference claimed the government's move to take control of nearly 400,000 hectares of Inam land belonging to Hindu temples amounted to a "one-sided attack" on Hindu religious properties. Speaking to the media, revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that the reason for this proposed law was to end the dispute between cultivators and those who owned the land. "Lakhs of acres are caught in a dispute between the Devasthan and farmers, and this situation benefits neither party," he said. "We will consider all suggestions to make the law better." The new proposed law seeks to abolish historical land grants made by erstwhile royalty to temples and transfer permanent ownership rights (Occupant Class I) to current tenants, cultivators, and occupants who held the land prior to January 1, 2011, upon payment of a prescribed fee. However, the draft excludes properties regulated under the Wakf Act....