Khargone/Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Two years after bulldozers rolled into Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone following communal riots on Ram Navami in April 2022 and demolished houses and businesses owned by Muslims who were deemed to be suspects of the violence, Hasina Fakhroo, a widow whose house built under the PM Awas Yojana and was demolished as a part of the “bulldozer justice” action, says that she was keen to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he addressed an election campaign rally in the area on May 7.
Hasina Fakhroo shows court documents that include a photo of her standing outside her PMAY house. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
“When Modi came here I wanted to go and ask him to give back my house. I wanted to tell him, ‘You had my house demolished, now build my house again and give it to me.’ But my children stopped me from going. All I want is that they should give me my house again,” she told The Wire, sitting outside her tin house in Khargone’s Anand Nagar.
Since the demolition on April 12, 2022, Fakhroo and her family have changed houses four times before moving to the one-room tin house where she now lives with her three sons and a daughter. Tin walls of the house stand on concrete and brick on a small plot that members of the community have collected money and divided among those who were displaced following the demolition drive.
“We don’t even have an electricity connection. One of the neighbours has kindly given us electricity on rent so we have pulled a line from their line to be able to power one bulb and a fan,” said Fakhroo.
Khargone saw communal violence during Ram Navami processions on April 10, 2022. Following the violence, at least 80 people were arrested while the administration brought bulldozers down on shops, businesses and homes owned by Muslims, demolishing at least 50 properties in the area. The action was described by the authorities as one on the accused in the riots who owned these properties and were encroaching on public land.
The demolition drive, first seen in Uttar Pradesh under chief minister Adityanath who has been called “bulldozer baba”, has since spread to Madhya Pradesh, where former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came to be referred to as “bulldozer mama”. The bulldozer justice model has since also been seen in Delhi, Assam and Uttarakhand.
An Amnesty International report in February said that Muslims were targeted in 128 demolitions that affected 617 people, with at least 33 instances of JCB’s equipment being repeatedly used. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of “punitive demolitions” at 56.
Hasina Fakhroo with her PMAY house bearing the stamp. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
In 2021, then Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra described The Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property and Recovery of Damages Act 2021, a law that is similar to one passed by the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, as one that was “brought in so that anti-social elements and those causing riots will now fear the law”. After the violence in Khargone, Mishra defended the bulldozer action in the city and said that “houses from where stones were pelted will be reduced to rubble of stones”.
As Khargone votes on May 13, two years after the demolitions, victims of the demolition drive say that their hopes for justice are dim.
‘No politician has met us’
Fakhroo’s house in Khargone’s Khaskhaswadi was built under the PM Awas Yojana just about six months before it was brought down, and was one of at least 18 houses demolished in the lane following the riots. After her husband’s death, the house was transferred to her name. The four-bedroom house was built after decades of the family living in a kuccha house on the same plot.
“There was no violence or unrest in our area. Our house was quite far away from where the riots took place. But just because of the riots, they came and demolished my house without giving any warning,” she said.
“Two years have passed since and no one (politician or government authority) has even come to meet us once.”
Across Fakhroo’s house stands a small one-storey house which also bears the stamp of being a house built under the PM Awas Yojana. Mohammad Abdul Hakim said that he had purchased the plot years ago while still living in Khaskhaswadi, where his pucca house was demolished following the riots.
“The house had a proper electricity line, meter, water connection, four bedrooms. After the riots they came and demolished our house and did not allow us to take anything. Not even the electricity meter. For 18 months we lived in a small 8 feet by 8 feet house. It was only five months back that we moved to this house once it got built under the Yojana,” he said.
Hakim said that after the demolition, he applied under the PM Awas Yojana scheme and managed to build this house, where he now lives with his wife, two sons and their wives and two children, with financial assistance from family members.
Hasina Fakhroo with her two sons. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
At the rally in Khargone on May 7, which was held just behind the plot of land where both Fakhroo and Hakim live, Modi continued his communal rhetoric that has become a mainstay of his campaign in recent weeks.
“In Pakistan, terrorists are threatening to do jihad against India. Congress is also asking certain people to do vote jihad against Modi. They are asking the people of a certain religion to vote against Modi,” said Modi at the rally.
“This means they are asking a certain group of people to unite to vote against Modi. Think, to what level has the Congress stooped? They are surrounded by hopelessness and where has that taken them. I am asking you, will you answer?…You tell me. Will you accept vote jihad? Can this be allowed in a democracy? Does the Indian Constitution allow such a jihad?”
His words could be heard clearly by the residents of the Anand Nagar plot.
“We don’t have any hopes from this election. No one has visited us from any party and no matter what we say, Modi will win. Dharm ki rajneeti ko dhanda bana diya hai (They have made a business out of politics over religion). The only hope now is from God, that we will get justice and get back that land where our house was demolished,” said Hakim.
Hasina Fakhroo’s tin house. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
‘Issue in election is whether the country will survive’
Not just homes, Muslim-owned businesses were also felled by bulldozers following the riots. Amjad Khan, owner of Best Bakery in Khargone’s Karim Nagar, said that his bakery was demolished after authorities confused him with another Amjad Khan, also a bakery owner in the area, who was named as an accused in the violence.
“On the day of the riots, I was at Talab Chowk where the violence started but I was standing along with policemen. When the authorities came to my bakery on April 12 (2022) with bulldozers, I told them that I am not the Amjad Khan who they are looking for, but they did not listen to me and demolished my bakery even though I had all permits and papers in order and I was not involved in any way in the violence,” he said.
Talab Chowk, where violence first broke out in April 2022. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
Khan has moved the Madhya Pradesh high court against the demolition of his bakery. But five months later, two of his other bakeries were also demolished in September. While his case is underway in court, in October 2022 he wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office against the demolitions of his businesses and asked for a fair probe. The Wire has seen a copy of the letter. He said he is yet to receive a reply.
In the two years since, he has rebuilt two of his bakeries at the same spot where they were demolished, while the third has been rebuilt a little distance away. The rubble of the destroyed bakery still remains.
Amjad Khan outside his new bakery, built at the same spot where the old one was demolished in April 2022. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
Khan said that while in India the idea of “bulldozer justice” has become synonymous with the Adityanath government who started such demolitions, the pattern is that of Israel’s actions in Palestine.
“Yogiji has copied Israel’s model. This is done to instil fear by demolishing houses and businesses so that no one raises their voice,” said Khan.
“A person works hard all his life to build a house, and that is demolished in less than 30 minutes. If the person has done wrong, courts are there. Only when riots happen or there is violence or a crime do they remember that the building was constructed illegally. What were they doing before? You were collecting taxes on the property and making money… Their only goal is that hum jo bhi zulm karein, tum bardasht karo (bear all our atrocities). If the media was not there to highlight my story earlier, I would have been named in the riots too.”
Amjad Khan amidst the rubble of his demolished third bakery. He has rebuilt it a little distance away. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
Khan said that he has worked with the community in the past and even campaigned for the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections. But after the demolition, no politician from any political party gave him any support.
“The issue in this election is not unemployment or inflation. It is about whether this country will even survive in the next 10-20 years. The way in which things are going, I don’t think that in the coming decades Hindus and Muslims will even be able to sit and have a cup of tea together,” he said.
Case moving slowly
Ashhar Warsi, who is representing the victims in the Madhya Pradesh high court, said that at present the cases challenging the demolitions are moving at a very slow pace.
“The state has been filing replies very slowly. Replies from the municipal corporation, the collector have come in at a very slow pace. And most importantly, the state of Madhya Pradesh is yet to file a reply in two years,” he told The Wire in Indore.
Fifteen petitions against the demolitions have now been clubbed together, of which nine are from those in Khargone. Final arguments in the case are scheduled for July.
Warsi said that while compensation is a challenge, despite successive Supreme Court orders that have said that in violations of fundamental rights, compensation has to be given, the primary goal of the petitioners is to show the circumstances in which these demolitions took place.
“Primarily we have to see in what circumstances these demolitions took place. Secondly, what was the haste for demolitions? There are two questions – if a person has committed a crime does the government have a right to demolish his house? No. Because criminal law already has punishment, so you cannot give another punishment.”
While The Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property and Recovery of Damages Act 2021, that came into effect in 2022, empowers a two-member committee through a claims tribunal to recover from the accused the cost of damage to a public or private property during any kind of violence, it does not say that properties can be demolished. The Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 also requires 14-day notice to be given prior to any action by authorities.
“In these cases, the government is taking the wheel of the Municipal Corporation Act. But technically there is no law that says that houses can be demolished,” said Warsi.
Mohammad Salim Sheikh (bottom left). Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
Back in Khargone’s Gulshan Nagar main road, a group of men are sitting and drinking tea in the evening. Mohammad Salim Sheikh who works as a tailor in the area said that the government’s role should be to take everyone along and not divide.
“This talk around dharm (religion) and spinning a narrative around it is wrong. One can sit on the prime minister’s chair not just for ten years but for their entire life. No one has a problem. But take everyone along. The world is going forward and we are going backwards. Talk about unemployment and giving all citizens their equal rights. Take everyone along,” he said.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Mohamad Elmasry
Belen Fernandez
Brahma Chellaney
Petra Lesjak Tušek
Tarik Cyril Amar
Michael Kwet
visit website
