Bulldozers will destroy Delhi: Sisodia in letter to Amit Shah BJP ASKS NORTH MCD TO RAZE 2 ‘ILLEGAL’ ROOMS OUTSIDE AAP HQ
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) escalated its confrontation with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over “bulldozer politics”, with Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia urging the Union home minister Amit Shah to halt further demolitions in the Capital until investigations are carried out against functionaries of the civic bodies that are controlled by the latter’s party.
The developments came a day after AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan was arrested by Delhi Police from southeast Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar area, where protests broke out and locals clashed with police when civic officials attempted to bring down illegally built houses. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also called a meeting of all MLAS on Saturday to chart out a political counterstrategy.
In the letter, Sisodia said the civic bodies’ demolition plans risked rendering homeless around five million residents of Delhi’s 1,750-odd unauthorised colonies, and a million who live in 860 slum clusters.
“The BJP’S plan in Delhi is now to run municipal bulldozers in all these colonies. Every day, BJP leaders reach some colonies with bulldozers. Not only this, the BJP has also handed notices to 300,000 residents of authorised DDA colonies and plan to carry out demolitions there as well, since people may have made minor alterations to their homes,” Sisodia said.
“There will be hardly any flat or bungalow in Delhi where people have not got any minor alterations done,” he added.
Home ministry officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta, in a statement, said the demolition action was being taken against encroachments “by Bangladeshis and Rohingya”.
“These elements are involved in riots and criminal activities in the national capital and seek shelter under AAP leaders’ protection. AAP is not bothered about the poor. Had it been bothered about them, the AAP government would have implemented central government’s free health scheme (Ayushman Bharat) in Delhi. Had AAP been bothered about the poor, the Delhi government would have provided the homeless with homes. Only BJP cares about the poor,” Gupta said.
The controversy first began in the aftermath of the communal clashes in Jahangirpuri last month, where the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) carried out an anti-encorachment days after communal riots broke out in the area between Hindu and Muslim groups. The Opposition, including the AAP and the Congress, accused the BJP of drawing from a playbook used in other Bjpruled states where bulldozers targeted properties following communal clashes, or to target criminals from the minority community.
In recent days, the demolition drives in the Capital have snowballed -- for most of the past week, however, they were peaceful except for protests that caused a drive to be aborted at Shaheen Bagh on Monday and led to protests at Madanpur Khadar on Thursday.
The BJP and the municipal corporations have denied allegations that the drives were targeted at particular communities.
The controversy has overshadowed what is a legitimate and a decades-long problem in the Capital, where swathes of settlements -- in affluent as well as poor areas -- are illegal, and temporary structures routinely pop up along key stretches, triggering traffic snarls and creating choke points.
Alleging that it was the municipal corporations, governed by the BJP for 17 years, that allowed unauthorised constructions to mushroom across the city, Sisodia said the saffron party was going to be “wiped clean” in the civic bodies and was intent on destroying peoples’ homes on their way out.
“Before running bulldozers on the homes of the public, bulldozers should be run on the homes of those BJP leaders who allowed these constructions to be done by taking money and till the accountability is fixed and action is not taken against them, then the politics of this bulldozer should be stopped completely,” he said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Durgesh Pathak, in a complaint to the South MCD mayor and commissioner, asked the civic body to investigate alleged illegalities during the construction of Delhi BJP chief Gupta’s residence and office in West Patel Nagar.
He said “the AAP will bulldoze unauthorised constructions by Adesh Gupta” at his residence and office, if the MCD did not demolish them by 11am on Saturday”.
“It has been weeks since the AAP exposed illegal constructions at Gupta’s residence and office, but the MCD refuses to take any action,” Pathak said. He claimed Gupta’s office operates out of an MCD school – MCD Primary School, Diwan School (Opp. Block 28 & 32) in West Patel Nagar.
Hitting out at Pathak, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “If Durgesh Pathak or his party believe that there is encroachment outside Adesh Gupta’s home, they should have complained to the MCD or approached the Lieutenant Governor or could have moved the court. But being anarchic by nature, the AAP leader [Pathak] has decided to take a bulldozer. They don’t fear taking the law into their own hands. ”
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Amid escalating war of words over anti-encroachment drives by the civic bodies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday demanded action against “illegal” constructions on the footpath outside the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters at Rouse Avenue, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
In a letter to the North Delhi Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Goel on Friday, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor claimed that there are two rooms constructed on the pavement outside AAP headquarters. Kapoor requested that an inspection of the area be carried out and the “illegal encroachment” be immediately demolished. “To our knowledge, these two rooms are under the occupation and use of the Aam Aadmi Party,” wrote Kapoor.
While AAP did not respond to requests seeking a comment, senior party leader Durgesh Pathak earlier pointed to alleged illegalities in the construction of Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta’s residence and office in West Patel Nagar, in a letter to the South MCD mayor and commissioner. Pathak gave the civic body time till 11am on Saturday to demolish the structures.
Hitting out at Pathak, Kapoor said, “Pathak is alleging that a single stair outside Gupta’s residence, which is located in a congested area, is an encroachment. But he is silent on the two rooms outside his party’s office.”
BJP leaders said the Aap-led Punjab government too has taken action against encroachment. Harish Khurana, Delhi BJP media incharge, said, “In Punjab, Kejriwal justifies removal of illegal encroachments but in Delhi..., it is termed illegal.”