Delhi BJP leaders meet Amit Shah after SC stops Jahangirpuri demolition

Top Delhi BJP leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the Union Home Ministry in Delhi on Wednesday, hours after a controversial demolition drive in violence-hit Jahangirpuri that was halted by the Supreme Court.

Amit Shah met with the Delhi leaders for an hour. Those in the meeting were Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta, MP Ramesh Bidhuri, MLA Ram Bir Bidhuri and leader Maninder Singh Sirsa, reports NDTV. The leaders didn’t disclose anything on the talks. “It was a routine meeting,” said Sirsa.

Adesh Gupta had written to North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh calling for an anti-encroachment drive in the area where communal clashes erupted on Saturday during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.

Also read: Heavy security deployed in Jahangirpuri for NDMC drive; mayor calls it routine exercise

The demolition teams arrived at Jahangirpuri in the morning along with hundreds of policemen. Shortly after, a petition before the Supreme Court called the drive illegal. A bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana agreed to an “urgent hearing” and paused the Jahangirpuri demolition until then.

Legal action, says BJP

Meanwhile, the BJP refuted the Opposition’s allegation that Muslims were picked out during a demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, saying this was a legal exercise that had nothing to do with religion.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the politics being played by opposition parties over the issue is saddening and accused them of bringing a “religious angle” into a host of issues since 2014 to foment instability to attack the Centre.

“As far as the BJP government is concerned, our only mantra is sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas. Every project and policy of the (Narendra) Modi government has been an inclusive exercise that has catered to every section of the society, without any kind of distinction along the lines of caste, creed and religion,” Patra said.

Several Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, had attacked the Centre over the use of bulldozers in violence-hit areas of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh and alleged that it amounted to demolishing India’s constitutional values and targeted the poor and minorities.

The Supreme Court stalled the anti-encroachment drive conducted by municipal authorities in Jahangirpuri after taking note of a plea of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind that buildings belonging to Muslim riots accused are being razed.

Also read: Demolition drive begins in Jahangirpuri despite SC order, then stopped