Court moves to halt demolitions
INDIA’S Supreme Court stepped in to stop authorities from demolishing illegal shops and walls around a mosque in a predominantly Muslim area of New Delhi near the site of clashes between Hindus and Muslims over the weekend.
At least 20 people were arrested in connection with the clashes, which erupted during a procession at a Hindu festival.
Local police and members of the paramilitary forces who report to the federal home ministry were in Jahangirpuri yesterday, a residential area that is home to scores of low-income Muslim families, when bulldozers razed shops and walls to the ground.
Recent communal clashes in several parts of India have been followed by demolition drives, which critics say are an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to intimidate India’s 200 million Muslims. BJP leaders and hardline Hindu groups say they are enforcing the law.
A three-judge panel ordered a stay on tearing down structures in Jahangirpuri, which was led by a civic authority affiliated with the BJP and carried out under the protection of police and
security forces. The stay will remain in force until a hearing scheduled for today. Several Muslim residents at the site said shopkeepers were not given advance warning about the operation.
“My entire shop has been ruined. Equipment, bikes that were standing for repair are all destroyed in the demolition drive,” said a Muslim man who gave his name only as Ashu.
India in recent weeks has witnessed a rise in small-scale religious clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Earlier this month, several homes and shops were torn down in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and western Gujarat state in the aftermath of communal violence on the day of another Hindu festival. Both states are
ruled by the BJP. The country has a nearly 80% Hindu majority and 14% Muslim minority. A rash of speeches over the past year by right-wing leaders included a priest’s appeal to fellow Hindus in December to pick up weapons and “conduct a cleanliness drive” that would kill off Muslims.
This week, 13 opposition parties urged Modi to make a national appeal for calm. Modi stayed silent, but the BJP’s president, J.P. Nadda, responded with an open letter arguing that similar violence broke out under past administrations. Other BJP leaders have taken a harder line, with many arguing that Muslims have been the ones attacking Hindu processions and must be brought to heel.