Country Will be Run by Constitution, not Modi’s Diktat, Say Delhi’s Citizens

New Delhi: With clenched fists and raising slogans, citizens of the national capital marched on the call of Left parties on Wednesday from Kashmiri Gate to Lieutenant Governor’s secretariat to protest the “demolition of livelihood”.

The march was held on Wednesday to protest the Bharatiya Janata Party-run municipal corporations that have served notices across Delhi to demolish homes and temporary shops under its “anti-encroachment drive”. The Opposition parties have accused BJP of instigating communal tension by particularly targeting slums and shanties where Muslims reside in large numbers.

The march saw the participation of daily wage workers, students, professors, temporary shop owners and self- employed women in large numbers.

For Hasina, it’s a struggle of daily survival, as she has been served a notice to remove her temporary tea stall in JJ colony in Bawana. An emotional Hasina told NewsClick: “We are already struggling with our lives. My son has been missing for 15 days. He is a drug addict. I just received a call from the local police station that he has been incarcerated. In the midst of all this, if you lose your only means of livelihood, how will you live?This is wrong. We lost most of our savings during demonetisation, pandemic and lockdowns. What will they achieve with these demolitions?”

Hasina later said she has been living in slums near the burial ground in Bawana where the corporation demolished her home twice in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Premlata, who came from Mukundpur, told NewsClick that the brunt of these demolitions was being borne by poor families. “The corporation must stop this drive. People have been living in these areas peacefully for 30 years. Governments came and went but nobody touched the poor. Unemployment has peaked. In the absence of jobs, either young men steal something or become drug addicts. The government is not providing any jobs but is certainly interested in destroying livelihoods. If it thinks we will burn out, then it is living in a fool’s paradise. We will go to every colony to stop their bulldozer, be it in Jahangir Puri or Mangol Puri,”she said.

The protesters were most discontented with rising inflation and vanishing jobs. Santosh Kumari, who came from Dakshin Puri, said the thrust of the government should have been on reducing food prices but it is interested in allowing private traders to give discounts on liquor bottles. She said: “To buy an LPG gas cylinder, I need to pay Rs 1,000 now. When this government came to power in 2014, it cost Rs 400. We are not so rich nor have our incomes increased for us to afford such inflated prices”.

A student from Delhi University’s Hindu College, who did not wish to be named, said the government could do things with impunity only because the middle classes are finding it justifiable but it is unsustainable for citizens as a society. “We have been fed with disregard for the poor consistently over the years by our parents and relatives that we tend to forget they are humans too. How many times do we observe our garbage collectors closely? We need clean roads but we need to ponder that the poor do exist and they too have the right to live with dignity,” she said.

Mohd Ishteyaq from Maujpur in North East Delhi, said it may be common for governments to get arrogant but they must know that they are not omnipotent. “People choose them and destroy them too”. He said: “I am always tense whenever my blind daughter walks out of home. She could become a victim in the hands of a communal mob who may indulge in violence over any procession now. They have made our society a tinder box which may catch fire anytime,” he said.

The march was addressed by Left party leaders, including Brinda Karat, Amarjit Kaur, Ravi Rai among others. Karat, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court to stay the demolitions, said that the time had come for citizens to hit the streets to reclaim their rights. “Their bulldozers will come to selective bastis to target Muslims whereas their friends in power will amass wealth disproportionately. I must commend the courage of the people of Shaheen Bagh who fought valiantly and compelled the corporation to take back its bulldozers. The fight is needed in every colony against this atrocious, communal government,” she added.