Bulldozers to the rescue of precariously perched BJP CMs

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's recent win in the state's elections was attributed to his tough stance on law and order. Other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministers finding their positions precarious have now taken a leaf out of his book.

Yogi Adityanath, generally known as "Maharaj ji", earned the moniker "Bulldozer Baba" after his administration used the heavy machine to dramatically raze to the ground properties of criminals and mafia dons. The victory rally in his home constituency of Gorakhpur had a fleet of bulldozers flying the BJP flag and supporters cheering "Bulldozer Baba Zindabad" (Long live Bulldozer Baba).

Now, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has pressed bulldozers in law-and-order duties. In the third week of March, he ordered the demolition of several houses in the Sheopur and Raisen districts of the state. In Sheopur, an incident of rape led to communal tension, and the houses of three gang-rape accused – Mohsin, Riyaz and Shahnawaz - were subsequently razed by bulldozers. The district administration justified this by claiming that the houses had been built illegally on government land. The chief minister's office issued a statement that "people in the district have welcomed the government's decision."

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In Raisen, after communal rioting between tribals and local Muslims led to the death of a tribal youth and 50 injured, the chief minister ordered bulldozers to raze the houses and shops of those accused of creating social disharmony. Reports say that furniture made of "illegal teak" was also confiscated from the houses of the accused by the Forest Department. Once again, the properties were declared to have been constructed on encroached land.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan probably thinks he will be removed after the next state elections, which are due in November 2023. Perhaps this has prompted him to appropriate the symbol of strong governance, declaring, "Bulldozer Mama is on now and will not stop till the miscreants are buried." Reportedly billboards across Bhopal feature Chauhan's image alongside a bulldozer with crime-fighter slogans like – "Behan beti ki izzat ke saath jisne kiya khilwar, bulldozer pahunchega uske dwar (Those who outrage the modesty of sisters and daughters will now face bulldozers)" and "Beti ki suraksha mein jo banega rora, mama ka bulldozer banega hathora (Uncle's bulldozer will be a hammer against those who threaten the safety of our daughters)".

The MP chief minister is not the only one taken up with Yogi Adityanath. In neighbouring Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, having failed at the hustings himself in the recent election, seems to be following Adityanath's macho playbook. He used bulldozers to demolish a fish and poultry market in Haldwani earlier this week. A much-publicised video of the event clearly shows that the affected shopkeepers were Muslims.

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In UP, too, bulldozers are also up and about after the elections. Early on the morning of March 24, the UP Police parked a bulldozer outside the house of a man accused of rape, asking him to surrender by the afternoon otherwise his house would be razed, and he did. Ten days later, in the Gonda district, the police delivered a similar ultimatum to another rape accused – his entire family accompanying the accused came out of the house holding a placard that said, "Sir, I am surrendering. Please don't shoot me."

Such is the fear of the bulldozer that a 40-year-old resident of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh voluntarily requested the district administration to demolish his house as it was built illegally, straddling a dried-up pond and a graveyard, both owned by the government. His family had been living in it for two generations. Reports suggest that more than 50 criminals have surrendered at UP police stations after the BJP returned to power for fear of bulldozers demolishing their homes.

Legally, a state administration can demolish an illegal construction and free up encroached government land using whatever legal means are at its disposal. However, the demolition has to be done with due process. Under the Municipal Corporation Act, a show-cause notice has to be given to the owner, sufficient time has to be given for the reply, the owner should have the option of moving the court and obtaining a stay order if there is a violation of procedure resulting in financial loss then the owner of the building is entitled to seek compensation, etc.

Whether the BJP-run state governments bother about the niceties of the law remains unclear – especially when many of the affected are from the minority community. It is also unclear whether the properties of absconding criminals can be demolished without attracting legal consequences. It is an even more egregious act to threaten the demolition of someone's house when there is only an allegation of criminality. Can the police's investigative machinery be so easily replaced by an army of bulldozers?

Is the debate about unimplemented police reforms now history? Do we still need to worry about the functional autonomy of the police, encourage professionalism, etc., when it can now be safely replaced by expert bulldozer drivers and their mean machines?

(Bharat Bhushan is a journalist based in Delhi.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.