The BJP-run North Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) wrote to the North West DCP on Tuesday, requesting protection for an anti-encroachment campaign on the 20th and 21st of April in Jahangirpuri, which was rocked by Hindutva-led violence during Ram Navami rallies.
Authorities in at least two BJP-ruled states, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, razed scores of homes and shops belonging to Muslims who were arbitrarily arrested or booked in instances relating to anti-Muslim riots during the Ram Navami celebration a week ago, reports Maktoob Media.
The Assistant Commissioner of the North MCD’s Civil Lines Zone has asked 400 police officers, “including lady police/outer force for maintaining law and order during the encroachment removal action on April 20 and 21,” according to the letter.
Permission was also sought on Tuesday, but the drive was cancelled due to a lack of police personnel, according to North MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, as quoted by Indian Express.
He expressed confidence that they will receive police assistance on Wednesday.
The letter came just hours after Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta wrote to the North MCD Mayor, demanding that individuals arrested in the Jahangirpuri incident be identified and “illegal encroachment” and building be demolished.
BJP chief said: “These anti-social elements and rioters have the support of local AAP MLA and councillor and as a result these people have done large-scale encroachment. Therefore, illegal encroachment done by these rioters should be identified and there should be bulldozers run over it.”
AIMIM supremo and MP Asaduddin Owaisi took to Twitter to say that in the name of encroachment, homes in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh will be destroyed.
He claimed that the BJP had started war on the poorest.
Owaisi also requested an explanation for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “dubious role” in the Delhi MCD drive.
“Is his govt’s PWD part of this “demolition drive”? Did people of Jahingirpuri vote for him for such betrayals and cowardice?! His frequent refrain “police is not in our control” won’t work here,” Owaisi said.
Human rights organisations, Muslim organisations, and opposition party leaders have urged BJP governments to halt the demolition of Muslim houses and businesses in violence-plagued areas.
The demolition of private property of those suspected of rioting reportedly without due process, according to Amnesty International India Chair Aakar Patel, is “a major blow to the rule of law.”
The government should run a bulldozer over problems of the people such as inflation and unemployment but the BJP’s bulldozer is carrying “hatred and terror”, Congress former chief Rahul Gandhi said.
The Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has petitioned the Supreme Court of India, requesting that it intervene as the properties of Muslims who have been accused of violence are being bulldozed by authorities in states administered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the dangerous politics of bulldozers that have been started to destroy minorities, especially Muslims under the guise of crime prevention in BJP-ruled states,” JUH president, Arshad Madani, tweeted on Sunday.
The Chenab Times News Desk