Bulldozers rolling over the Constitution
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During the Emergency, when democracy itself was locked away, one of the still-unhealed scars of the excesses committed by power-drunk political and bureaucratic authorities was the use of bulldozers at Turkman Gate. In the name of beautifying the national capital, hundreds of families’ homes and commercial establishments were razed to the ground in the Turkman Gate area. Nearly half a century later, bulldozers have once again rolled in there with a menacing roar. In the early hours of last Wednesday, around 1.30 a.m., officials of the Delhi Municipal Corporation descended on the area with several bulldozers and demolished the surroundings of the Syed Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque and the graveyard. The action was taken on the grounds that the mosque’s community centre, compound wall, parking area and a medical laboratory were built by encroaching on municipal land, and that the Corporation had issued orders for their eviction. The mosque committee had filed an appeal against the authorities’ order which described the structures as illegal encroachments, following which the High Court issued a notice to the Corporation. The bulldozer action was carried out without waiting even for the court’s decision. Although the mosque authorities stated that there was no illegal encroachment and that the land was Waqf property, that was of no avail. Arrests are continuing on the pretext of protests against the eviction drive. There are also attempts to target Muhibbullah Nadvi, the Imam of New Delhi’s Jama Masjid and a Lok Sabha member, who has been raising his voice against the intrusions of what he describes as a fascist regime. It was an organisation with a Sangh Parivar background that lodged the complaint leading to the demolition at Turkman Gate. An inspection was conducted on the basis of the complaint, a report terming it an encroachment was submitted, and the organisation subsequently approached the High Court and obtained an order for the demolition. In contemporary India, ‘bulldozer raj’ is not at all a novel phenomenon; rather, it has become a principal weapon of state governments ruled by the Sangh Parivar. Homes and commercial establishments of those who protest against the government, those implicated in vindictive complaints filed by Hindutva organisations, and those accused in terrorism-related cases are routinely razed to the ground without any legal backing.
Even in Karnataka, where the Congress had opened its ‘shop of love’, two slums densely inhabited by the poor were demolished in the name of removing illegal encroachments, in a manner similar to that seen in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states such as Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is reassuring that following sharp criticism of the incident,that the Karnataka government was compelled to retract its move and undertake rehabilitation. The country’s highest court had delivered a strongly worded verdict against the bulldozer raj pursued by governments in November 2024. At the time, Justices B. R. Gavai and K. V. Viswanathan made it clear that it was not a pleasant sight to see women, children and the elderly being forced onto the streets from homes demolished in the middle of the night, and that the demolition of houses without following due process was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court emphasised that the administration has no authority to demolish the houses or structures of even accused persons, and that the government and authorities concerned cannot be allowed to usurp the functions of the judiciary. Thereafter, when a building was demolished in Rajasthan, the court intervened again, using strong language on the issue. The stance of Sangh Parivar–run governments appears to be that what the Constitution or the courts say does not apply to them. The Supreme Court had directed that clear guidelines and due procedures must be strictly followed before demolishing any building. The court observed that the sky would not fall if time were given. However, even after this, bulldozers have repeatedly charged at citizens’ rights without any procedure being followed.
That illegal encroachments must be removed is not disputed at all. However, the process by which Waqf-endowed mosques, associated structures, properties under their ownership, and homes that have existed for 50, 100 or even more years are suddenly declared illegal constructions or encroachments overnight is deeply disturbing. This amounts to a discriminatory enforcement of justice that applies only to buildings owned by Muslim minorities, Dalits and the poor. According to estimates, more than two lakh homes belonging to minorities have been demolished across the country under the bulldozer raj so far. This is besides mosques and madrasas. What is most distressing is that the government appears utterly unmoved by the fact that it is not merely structures of brick and mortar that are being destroyed through these unjust actions, but the secular values of the country, the constitutional guarantees it provides, and the dignity of the judiciary itself that are being crushed in the process.