Bulldozer for politics

India’s demolition drive is of two kinds- one an administrative decision against encroachment and construction of illegal and unauthorised structures and the other and most recent, is directed against rioters responsible for causing damage to public property. Demolition drives are aimed at destroying structures and are means of enforcing a rule or law. Demolition is to get rid of something that is unwanted or illegal. In India, demolition took on a different meaning as shown at Ayodhya, UP in 1992.The demolition power could not always be carried out by human hands so technology was roped in and this gave birth to the concept of “bulldozer politics” . This has a far more literal meaning in India, where in recent years when these excavators have become an extrajudicial tool in the hands of politicians. Presently, such abhorrent means to inflict pain and loss is also called as “bulldozer justice”, a trend that has lately seen heavy machinery being deployed to demolish houses of those who have protested and have been accused of rioting. The use of excavators and bulldozers is not only abhorrent and condemnable but illegal and unacceptable. Unfortunately, the use of bulldozers and excavators, especially in UP to raze houses, shops and small establishments, is proportionately targets people from a particular religious minority. Thus, the bulldozer has become a symbol for nationalist politicians and an object of fear among minorities. The government in UP is selectively and viciously cracking down on persons belonging to a minority religion who dared to speak up and peacefully express their dissent against the discrimination faced by them, said Aakar Patel, chair of Amnesty International India Board. As commented earlier, bulldozer justice as opted by the UP government is not only barbaric but does not fit into the tenets of constitutional law. The demolition of the house of an alleged rioter at Prayagraj has shocked many across the nation mainly because it was super instant justice where the due process has been sidetracked. The Prayagraj municipal corporation destroyed the home of Welfare Party leader Javed Mohammad, a day after naming him a ‘key conspirator’ in the June 10 protests against BJP leaders’ comments against Islam. The notice was backdated, pasted hurriedly on Saturday and by Sunday the house was gone. Illegal structures can be bulldozed only after due process of law has been met and the affected party also given time to respond. The fact is the whenever members of the minority community protest they are attacked and when the respond, the homes of the alleged ringleaders are bulldozed. This bulldozer justice is also swift and instant but the process follows much later. It will be interesting to note whether the UP government as well as in Haryana and other states where several thousand youths violently protested against the Centre’s Agnipath recruitment scheme. Going by recent precedence, anyone found involved in damaging public property in any manner invites use of bulldozer justice. As per the rule book of the Haryana and UP governments, those involved in the violent anti-Agnipath protests need to be given the same treatment as stone pelters. If the same yardstick is not applicable for more serious crimes, then it proves that justice is applicable only to some communities.