If Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s popularity in Gujarat soared during the 2022 Assembly elections because of his tough-on-crime image that earned him the “Bulldozer Baba” moniker, his Gujarat counterpart Bhupendra Patel has earned a similar reputation, with the government deploying “Dada ka bulldozer” — the CM is popularly addressed as “Dada” — to demolish the properties of “criminals”.
The demolition drive in Gujarat began in 2022 when local authorities went about demolishing illegal properties along the coastal districts “for reasons of security”. At the time, the government faced flak for “targeting a particular community”. But now this demolition drive has spread to the rest of the state, with the government going after bootleggers and other “anti-social elements” found to be involved in crimes such as rioting, property offences, gambling, body offences, and mining.
On March 15, Gujarat Police chief Vikas Sahay launched the campaign to use bulldozers and JCBs to demolish the “illegal properties” of people on the police list. Till last Friday, the police list had 8,374 people, of whom 3,240 were bootleggers. This list was drawn up from across 750 police stations within “100 hours”. Demolitions are currently ongoing or completed at 77 places and electricity connections have been snapped in 200 places. The police chief said the police had adopted a “first of its kind whole-of-government-approach” to deal with people on the list, disconnecting illegal power lines, cancelling bails, and placing bank transactions under surveillance.
Justifying this strategy, which includes “parading” the accused in public, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi told the Assembly last week that all this was being done for the “safety and security” of people. Sanghavi claimed that most of the “illegal properties” being razed were ones that had come up on government land.
Claiming that the people facing action were “outsiders”, the minister said, “Such persons (who are encroaching on government land) come into my state, instigate riots … should their homes not be bulldozed? Don’t we all have the responsibility to provide security to the people of Ahmedabad?”
Sanghavi said while “Dada’s bulldozer” might cause some trouble, it would not allow “injustice to anybody” in the state. He defended the parading of the accused in public. “I am an elected representative of the people. I call it varghodo (procession); Gujarat’s DGP calls it reconstruction,” he said.
Director General of Police (DGP) Sahay told The Indian Express that while an incident of rioting in Ahmedabad’s Vastral area on the night of March 13, marking Holika Dahan, was the trigger, he consciously started a drive with a “criminal-focused approach”. “This has significantly brought down property offences in the state, such as dacoity, loot, and theft,” he said.
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After the incident in Vastral, the police, with help from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, demolished the “illegal properties” of six of the 14 accused. Some of the accused were also allegedly beaten up in public. Sahay said that the police were sourcing all its data from the e-GujCop app and every action was “data-driven”.
Congress’s objections
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda said the police action was discriminatory and only the poor, who were not being provided with an alternative, were being targeted. Calling it a “diversionary tactic”, Chavda said, “Will they dare to demolish homes of the big guns? What list is being drawn up? The police should already have the list ready, isn’t it?”
Sahay said, the police always had the list of anti-social elements, but “now we have updated it and all police stations across the state have taken it up on priority, which has created an impact”.
Chavda also spoke about “Supreme Court guidelines not being followed” and demolitions being carried out “raato raat (overnight)”. Last November, a Bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan, while hearing a batch of petitions raising the issue of demolitions as punishment, said, “Even in cases of persons who do not wish to contest the demolition order, sufficient time needs to be given to them to vacate and arrange their affairs. It is not a happy sight to see women, children, and the young dragged to the streets overnight.”
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The top court said no demolition should be carried out without a 15-day notice. “The executive cannot become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him by demolishing his residential/commercial property/properties. Such an act of the executive will be transgressing its limits,” it added.
Sahay said all those whose properties were demolished had been “given a 15-day notice”. He said a property demolished in Juhapura, Ahmedabad, on Saturday had been notified as illegal in 2022. “We are really grateful that the nagarpalikas, municipal corporations, Collectors, DDOs (District Development Officers), the GUVNL (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd), and the courts have been very supportive,” said the police chief.
Asked if this would not end up in chaos, with women and children on the roads, Sahay said, “Rules have to be adhered to.”