State’s brazenness is evident

The violence in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani town, which led to the death of six persons in police firing, was not over the demolition of an illegal structure but the result of perceived persecution of the minority community. The local administration demolished a madrasa and a masjid allegedly constructed illegally on a site, but there are several questions about its action. The Uttarakhand government says the violence was over the administration’s anti-encroachment drive and no communal issues were involved. This has been the argument BJP governments in multiple states have routinely put out after demolishing houses, mostly of Muslim families, with bulldozers without the sanction of law but purely as retribution. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami issued shoot-at-sight orders to counter the violence, and the district magistrate has said that the administration faced a planned attack on the State machinery when it was trying to remove the illegal structures. But the administration seems to have been in a deliberate hurry and did not explore all options before it sent out the bulldozers. 

The ownership of the land is disputed and the High Court was set to hear the case about it on February 14. The argument that no stay was issued against the demolition order and therefore the demolition was legitimate is weak. Nothing would have happened if the administration had waited for a few days for the court to hear the matter. In any case, there are thousands of religious places built illegally on public and private land all over the country. The law cannot be selectively enforced only against some places. The administration’s action has inflamed passions, particularly in the present political context in Uttarakhand. Last week, the state Assembly passed a ‘Uniform Civil Code’ legislation that is considered by Muslims in the state, who constitute over 14 % of its population, as an attack on their personal laws. Haldwani has seen mass evictions from railway land in 2022, which also had led to protests by residents, mostly Muslims. 

The effort of any government or administration should be to avoid conflict with citizens and violence, but it has been seen that demolitions are being wielded as a political weapon against Muslims. They are being used as punishment even when an offence is not proved. Last week, a 600-year-old mosque near the Qutb Minar in Delhi, the Akhoondji Masjid, which was on the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) list, was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), though the Delhi High Court had directed it to maintain status quo. Houses of Muslims on Mira Road in Mumbai were demolished recently as part of a claimed anti-encroachment drive. Anti-encroachment drives and bulldozers have vicious anti-Muslim meanings in BJP-led states, and Haldwani is the latest such incident.