Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accusing it of playing dirty politics over its anti-encroachment drive in the national Capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said if bulldozers raze shops and houses of 63 lakh people in Delhi, which are considered illegal, it would be the biggest destruction in Independent India.
The meeting, being held at the Chief Minister's residence, was attended by almost all the ruling AAP MLAs in Delhi.
The BJP-ruled municipal corporations have been carrying out demolitions in several parts of Delhi, including Shaheen Bagh, Madanpur Khadar, New Friends Colony, Mangolpuri, Karol Bagh, Khyala and Lodhi Colony.
At a meeting with legislators on the matter, Kejriwal told them that they should be ready to go to jail for opposing the anti-encroachment drive being carried out by the BJP-led municipal corporations.“Delhi is not a planned city. It has developed and expanded over the past 75 years in a manner that over 80 per cent of the current residences and properties can be termed as illegal or encroachments,” said Kejriwal. “The method of eradicating encroachment that the BJP has resorted to is highly improper.
There are no required documents being considered, no timely notices or warnings being issued. They are simply barging into colonies with bulldozers and demolishing homes and shops as they please,” Kejriwal claimed.
“The BJP has conspired to tear down every single unauthorised colony in Delhi. These colonies are collectively home to 50 lakh people. They have further planned to demolish all slum clusters which house around 10 lakh poor people,” Kejriwal said. “They have also created a list of three lakh other properties across the city where people have not stuck to their building plans and made some minor alterations like balcony extension or construction of an extra room.
Here, they have decided to destroy all such partly-made encroachments,” said the Chief Minister. “A total of 63 lakh people will have their homes destroyed, which I believe is going to be the biggest demolition drive in the history of Independent India. This is highly unfortunate, and extremely unjustified. Before the elections, the BJP had said that people residing in unauthorised colonies would be given property rights, that proper homes would replace the slums for the population that lives there,” said the AAP National Convernor.
“We discourage illegal settlements and encroachments because we want our Delhi to flourish as a beautiful State. However, neither the AAP, nor the people of Delhi will tolerate the BJP displacing 63 lakh people, destroying their livelihoods, and leaving them homeless,” he said.“Now that the BJP-ruled MCD’s tenure is about to end on May 18, they no longer possess constitutional power to carry out extensive demolitions and take such major legal decisions. They must face a free and fair election and every single person in Delhi knows that once proper elections are held, the AAP will come to power in MCD,” said Kejriwal.