Tag: Bulldozer Politics

‘Bulldozer Action is Fine if There is No Revenge Politics’

By LokMarg

Rahul Bhasin, a trader in pesticides and horticulture equipment from Prayagraj, feels that the media and social media added fuel to the fire in the recent flare up

Our family has been living in Prayagraj, erstwhile Allahabad, for three generations. It has always been a very peaceful district, with no known history of political violence. Therefore, it was a surprise to many of us when it suddenly flared up last week and there was largescale violence on the streets. This was followed by what is not popularly called ‘Bulldozer Action’, which was then legally challenged in the Supreme Court.

I squarely blame social media for this escalation and the mainstream media for adding fuel to the fire. I can safely bet that a majority of the protesters did not even know the complete details of the incidents for which they had descended on the road.

There was no fatwa (a religious diktat) or any call from any group for the citizens to hold protest. It all began on social media groups, with exaggerated claims on insulting a religion and then counter-information about Friday being the ‘Doomsday’. A number of unsubstantiated video clips of untamed violence as well as police brutality were also shared to push their agenda.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp were full of unverified information, pushing separate communal agendas with little restrain or control of local or state administration. There were provocative posts on such platforms about the ‘other’ community and while the fire spread, cyber cells were in deep sleep.

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UP Police social media handles have been quick in responding to complaints on social platforms lately, but in this instance they completely failed to figure out or control the situation. They should have been, at least, be more agile on issues related to daily public life and society.

The role of mainstream media was worse. There was no check on TV debates that knowingly or unknowingly fanned emotional issues and prompted hateful action to disturb social harmony. A similar hullabaloo was created during the Gyanwapi issue recently where all the news channels and the debaters were shouting from the rooftop. These debates have become the breeding ground for hate-mongers in recent years.

As far as the bulldozer action of the Yogi government is concerned, it is indeed an appreciable step to put the fear of law among criminal mafia in Uttar Pradesh. However, there has been a lack of transparency in their actions of late. As happened in the recent case of Javed Mohammed whose house was demolished for his alleged involvement in the protests, when, as later turned out, it was not even registered in his name.

I have one suggestion for the government: although the bulldozer action is the best remedy to tame wrong-doers and mafia in our state, the rulebook must be fairly followed in each case. Otherwise, it will lose its effectiveness and will be reduced to a tool to settle scores, serve political vendetta and target a select section.

As told to Rajat Rai

Defying The Demolition Doctrine

By Amit Sengupta

So what else will they like to demolish?

They demolished the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. This was followed by bloody riots in many parts of the country: violence, bloodshed, deaths and dying, and a communal polarization after that infamous black day of demolition which ravaged the social psyche in the Hindi heartland.

They have relentlessly and tirelessly moved to demolish the finest university in the country, and one of the best in the world: JNU. They tried their best and almost succeeded to destroy the prestigious film and television institute in India: the FTII of Pune. They tried their hand with Rohith Vemulla’s university in the South; Jadavpur University in Bengal, Jamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh.

Some of the most brilliant scholars, all young, most of them Muslims, are languishing in prison on cooked up charges. They have destroyed homes and shops of the poor in Jehangirpuri in Delhi, all legitimate and hardworking Indian citizens from Midnapur in West Bengal, and then in Saharanpur and Kanpur. Now, it is Allahabad.

They have willfully tried to usurp or destroy or sell out public institutions of the Indian democracy, you name it: media, education, health, the public sector, railways, airports, Bollywood. Even the private sector is allegedly compelled to toe the line. It is either them, or the damned highway in this heat.

So, what else will they choose to demolish and till which eternal end of eternity?

The house of Afreen. A former student of linguistics in AMU and JNU. A former member of the JNU Students Union. An articulate, independent, thinking young woman. So why do they hate young Muslim scholars so much, including the girls?

The home did not even belong to her father. It was reportedly a gift to her mother. Hence a policeman carries a portrait of a girl, in the ravaged circumstances, as if it is a bomb discovered in the ruins.

Posters, books, literature: so what else did they find in her house; what were they reading all this while; did they also find Harry Potter, Asterix, Mandrake and Vikram-Betaal, if not all the memories of Afreen’s childhood in that historic town near that holy river?

Not even a day’s notice was apparently given. The family was not at home to see their memories become rubble in moments. Earlier, Afreen told Al Jazeera, her mother and sister were detained for more than 30 hours. “The demolition is absolutely illegal because it is not even my father’s property. The house belongs to my mother… We have been paying our house tax for around 20 years and not once did we receive any intimation from the development authorities of Allahabad,” she said.

ALSO READ: BJP Wants Muslims To React Violently

The point is if people protest peacefully, will their homes, most of them built with hard-earned money earned over decades of hard labour, be demolished with literally no notice and no process of justice at all? And since when has stone-pelting or clashes with police on the streets led to homes being destroyed?

Indeed, did they destroy the homes of the ABVP goons who attacked, viciously and violently, JNU students, right inside the campus? Did they go for a demolition drive when the woman president of this esteemed university had her head smashed, blood all over her face?

Or, when mob-lynchers, organized and armed, went on killing Muslims as a public spectacle in Jharkhand, Dadri and elsewhere? Or when open calls were made to goli maaro? When peaceful mothers and sisters of Shaheen Bagh were protesting against the communal and polarizing anti-constitutional bill called the CAA?

If an idea can make you ill, the demolishing apparatus seem to have been possessed with a certain sickness unprecedented in the history of post-Independence India. This sickness spells the language of impending doom, not a Hindu rashtra, which secular and pluralist India will never become. Certainly, not in this lifetime. And Afreen and her family stand as a symbol of this secular India.

“This is totally illegal. Even if you assume for a moment that the construction was illegal, which, by the way, is how crores of Indians live, it is impermissible that you demolish a house on a Sunday when the residents are in custody. It is not a technical issue but a question of law,” said former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Gobind Mathur.

Earlier, in 2020, the chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the UP government’s move to name and shame activists who took up the cudgels against the CAA in Lucknow. The faces of the activists were splashed in public space in huge hoardings as if they were wanted criminals. The court held that this was against the principle of law and clearly violated their right to privacy.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had stopped the demolitions at Jehangirpuri in Delhi after the minorities were attacked on the occasion of a Hindu festival. Brinda Karat of the CPM and Ravi Rai of the CPI-ML (Liberation), along with activists, then led the resistance and stood before the bulldozers, thereby blocking the demolition of homes and shops of the poor residents, all legitimate residents of India staying there for years.

In an urgent letter petition to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court several former judges and lawyers have made a fervent appeal seeking suo motu cognizance of the recent acts in UP: “…Pursuant to this, the UP police have arrested more than 300 persons and registered FIRs against protesting citizens. Videos of young men in police custody being beaten with lathis, houses of protestors being demolished without notice or any cause of action, and protestors from the minority Muslim community being chased and beaten by the police, are circulating on social media, shaking the conscience of the nation. Such a brutal clampdown by a ruling administration is an unacceptable subversion of the rule of law and a violation of the rights of citizens, and makes a mockery of the Constitution and fundamental rights guaranteed by the State. The coordinated manner in which the police and development authorities have acted lead to the clear conclusion that demolitions are a form of collective extra judicial punishment, attributable to a state policy which is illegal. The mettle of the judiciary is tested in such critical times. On many occasions, including in the recent past, the judiciary has faced such challenges and emerged with distinction as the custodian of the rights of the people… We hope and trust the Supreme Court will rise to the occasion and not let the citizens and the Constitution down at this critical juncture.”

Among others, the petition has been signed by Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, Justice V. Gopala Gowda, Justice A.K. Ganguly, all formerly with the apex court, Justice A P Shah, former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court and former Chairperson, Law Commission of India, Justice K Chandru, Madras High Court, Justice Mohammed Anwar, Karnataka High Court, among others.

Amidst the rubble, Afreen and her sister, mother and father, have stood like a rock. They peacefully protested against the CAA. Undoubtedly, they will peacefully protest against all forms of injustice and attacks on the secular contours and essence of the Indian democracy and the Constitution. Surely, the nation must stand with them in solidarity.

Weekly Update: Barbarian Politics of Bulldozers; Rupee in Free Fall

By Lehnga Singh

In India’s socio-political lexicon, lamentably, a new phrase has made an entry: bulldozer politics. In Uttar Pradesh, where the hardline Hindu chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been in power for more than five years, communal tension and violence between Hindus and Muslims has been countered by his government by the use of bulldozers to raze the homes and settlements of so-called criminals allegedly responsible for rioting and other acts of violence. No prizes for guessing the religious community that is predominantly targeted by the bulldozers. 

There is a certain barbaric aspect to the sort of action the Uttar Pradesh government has sponsored. Bulldozers are routinely used in India to take down illegal construction. That procedure is usually legal. Official orders are obtained from the authorities such as courts and demolitions are carried out. Nothing wrong with that. However, what is fast becoming a trend, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, is extra-judicial and should be considered illegal: where the targets of demolition are owned or inhabited by criminals, rioters or other accused persons. 

The point is a simple one. If a person is accused of a crime, he has the right to be tried within the judicial system and the framework of the laws of the land. Is it legal for a government to raze settlements because alleged criminals inhabit them? But even as the debate rages about the bulldozer action initiated by the Uttar Pradesh government, it has emerged as a political tool. Last week the chief minister instructed officials to continue with bulldozer action ostensibly to quell the waves of violence that have erupted in parts of his state, notably in the Lucknow area.

But bulldozer action is one of the many consequences of the deeply dangerous brand of politics that has been unleashed by the Bharatiya Janata Party led governments in various parts of India. Since the party came topower at the Centre and began winning mandates in many other states, minority communities, particularly Muslims, have never felt more insecure. What was in the past latent majoritarianism now seems to be legitimised. And when mobs attack minorities and riots break out, authorities even at the highest levels turn a blind eye. And often when action is taken, the targeted “miscreants” belong to–you guessed right–the minority community.

Is India turning into a Hindu state? Many believe it already has. In growing parts of the country, discrimination and violence against minority communities have become routine. People have no option but to live with it. In some cases, such as in Uttar Pradesh, this has obviously and inevitably led to a backlash where the minority community strikes back. Whether these acts are perpetrated by criminals or not, the action that is adopted–of bulldozing areas–reeks of an uncivilised era, primitive, barbaric, and illegal. 

Why is Rupee Continuing to Lose Value?

Since January, in barely six months, the Indian rupee has dropped 5%. That is a sharp fall. One US dollar is equivalent now to nearly 80 rupees. Many expect the rate to worsen. What is going on?

The main reason for the rupee’s decline is the rise in prices of oil. India buys 85% of the oil it needs through imports. And for a variety of reasons, including the Russian attacks against Ukraine, the crude oil barrel price has risen to US$120. As recently as in March it was $90. When fuel prices soar, for India the demand for dollars increases and consequently, the rupee’s value declines. 

But there are other reasons too for the rupee’s fall. Global funds and investors are faced with a sentiment that urges them to reduce risks and withdraw investments in emerging markets such as India. Outflow of dollars has been constant since the beginning of this year. Since January, according to official estimates, as much as $24 billion has flowed out of India.

Besides this, there is the worrying trend in the US economy where retail inflation has been rising (as it has in Europe) and other developed markets. The US Fed Reserve (the central bank) is expected to hike interest rates in a monetary policy strategy to limit spending and curb inflation. This means returns on dollar assets will be higher than returns on, say, investments in financial assets in India. This means the outflow of funds will increase further. In money markets, anticipation of moves such as the one expected from the Fed is what turns the sentiment. And right now that anticipation is driving the value of the rupee down.

Global commodity prices have been rising steadily and even sharply. This means for India, its import bills go up and the deficit widens. To finance the deficit, India has to buy dollars and this puts further pressure on the rupee.

So it is a number of factors that have combined to make the rupee weaker. For the ordinary citizen it means that his money doesn’t stretch as much as it did before as prices rise and the economy bears the brunt of rising oil prices and the exodus of dollars. In plain terms, it is bad news.