A proposal by the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board to introduce uniform Friday sermon themes across mosques and religious institutions affiliated with it has triggered a political and religious storm in the Valley, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah terming it an “unacceptable attempt by the BJP to interfere in Muslim religious affairs”.The board is headed by senior BJP leader Darakhshan Andrabi, who later clarified that no formal order had been issued in this regard.Andrabi last week said following a meeting of clerics and religious scholars, the board decided to form a committee to suggest common themes for sermons across mosques and shrines on Fridays and other religious occasions.Reacting to the development, Omar posted on X: “This is an unacceptable attempt by the BJP to interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims and will not be accepted under any circumstances. The BJP-appointed chairperson must immediately halt this misplaced attempt to please her masters.”PDP president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also expressed “strong concern” over the decision, calling it interference in the religious practices of Muslims.She said Friday sermons were “primarily shaped by the issues and circumstances confronting a particular region or locality”.“Imposing a uniform template on the sermons disregards the diversity of local realities and the role of religious scholars in guiding their communities,” Mufti said, while reiterating her demand that the board be placed under the elected government.The Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a conglomerate of Islamic organisations in Jammu and Kashmir headed by chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said it had “taken serious note of reports that the waqf board plans a uniform Friday sermon to be delivered across mosques”.The MMU asked the board to “remain within its administrative responsibility of management, maintenance and protection of the waqf properties entrusted to it, rather than come up with such a devious agenda and unnecessary controversy”.Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone said, “Pre-vetting and deciding Friday sermons through a J&K waqf board committee is direct interference in religious freedom and pulpit autonomy.”The Awami Itihaad Party on Tuesday described the move as “an unwarranted attempt to centralise control over religious discourse”.“Why should the waqf board interfere in religious affairs and decide what every imam must speak about? The pulpit of a mosque is not an administrative desk, and an imam is not a spokesperson required to read out an approved script,” party’s chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi said.As the waqf board faced criticism from political and religious groups on Tuesday, its chairperson said no formal order had been issued.Andrabi said the proposal came from the clerics and scholars during last week’s meeting.“Darakhshan Andrabi does not make decisions here. Our scholars, preachers, imams and khateebs take decisions. Whatever religious matter is involved, it was said that day as well that all shrines and mosques under the board, and all imams associated with them, would speak on one topic so that when a particular issue is discussed across society, it has an impact,” she told reporters on Tuesday, while referring to a meeting of religious scholars which she chaired last week.