The use of bulldozers in violence-hit areas as a form of punishment was akin to demolishing India’s constitutional values, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, even as dramatic visuals of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat waving a Supreme Court order to stop a bulldozer in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area went viral.
Opposition leaders across the political spectrum slammed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for trying to carry out a demolition drive against “illegal structures” in Jahangirpuri, the area in northeast Delhi, which had seen rioting and pelting of stones last Saturday on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.
In a series of tweets, Mr. Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to switch off “bulldozers of hate” and “switch on power plants,” referring to news reports about shortage of coal in the country due to which power plants were being shut down.
“This is a demolition of India’s constitutional values. This is state-sponsored targeting of poor and minorities. BJP must bulldoze the hatred in their hearts instead,” he tweeted, sharing a picture of a speeding bulldozer on one side and the Constitution on the other.
At the demolition site, there were dramatic visuals of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and other Left leaders standing before the bulldozer and waving the Supreme Court order to halt the demolition drive.
CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat visits the Jahangirpuri area where a joint anti-encroachment drive was being carried out in New Delhi on April 20, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Karat said demolitions went on for an hour even after the Supreme Court order directing to maintain status quo.
She spoke to the Special Commissioner Deepender Pathak and MCD officials at the site to show them the top court’s order.
‘Demolition of Constitution’
“This is not only demolition of poor people’s homes and their livelihood, this is a demolition of the Constitution. If there was an illegal encroachment as they are claiming, they should follow the due process. The law can not be selectively imposed,” she said.
Claiming that she had been working for the last 40 years in Jahangirpuri and was well versed with the topography of the area, Ms. Karat asked why did the MCD wake up to illegal encroachments now.
“The government is trying to impose its sectarian political agenda to intimidate, bully and terrorise a particular community, in this case Muslims,” she stated.
CPI general secretary D. Raja said the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri was a brazen demolition of the constitutional order. “Bulldozing continued even after stay from none other than the Supreme Court! Bulldozer culture of the BJP-RSS is demolishing the foundations of rule of law! Mass action is the only alternative,” he added.
Lok Sabha member from Bahujan Samaj Party Danish Ali tweeted, “The nation is surprised that in @narendramodi ji’s digital India the order of honourable #SupremeCourt takes more than 2 hours to reach Delhi’s #Jahangirpuri I am not with the illegal encroachment but how come #MCD under union Home Ministry behave like this? #DelhiRiots2022”
