New Delhi: Protests erupted at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh on Monday with hundreds of people, including women, opposing an anti-encroachment drive of the SDMC as bulldozers rolled into the area in the presence of a huge number of police personnel, even as the civic body team was forced to return without carrying out the exercise. Following the protests, the SDMC officials returned with the bulldozers, an official said.
The protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as well as the Centre and demanded that the action be stopped. Some of the women protesters even stood in front of the bulldozers to prevent the exercise.
Earlier in the day, leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress reached the spot and staged a dharna. The protests caused traffic snarls at Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Jaitpur, Sarita Vihar and Mathura Road, among other places. SDMC’s Central Zone Chairman Rajpal Singh said that the illegal structures in the area could not be removed due to the protests.
In December 2019, Shaheen Bagh was the epicentre of protests and sit-ins against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The sit-in was called off in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the city.
Last month, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) carried out an anti-encroachment drive in the Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16. The action drew widespread criticism and the Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the drive.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta slammed the Congress and the AAP for “opposing the anti-encroachment drive”.
“Today, it has been proved that the AAP and its MLAs are supporting Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. Those who are lying before bulldozers will be given a reply by people. It is unfortunate that the AAP and the Congress are opposing the removal of encroachments at Shaheen Bagh. I urge the two parties not to link encroachments with religion,” Gupta said.
He added that the civic body plans to carry out an anti-encroachment drive near Gurdwara Road at New Friends Colony on Tuesday, while a similar exercise is planned at Meharchand Market in Lodhi Colony, near the Sai Baba Mandir and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium metro station, on May 11.