The BJP government in West Bengal has lost little time in sending in the bulldozers, a favourite instrument of repression used by governments in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in defiance of Supreme Court rulings. Less than three weeks in office, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has launched an aggressive campaign against squatter constructions and unregistered factories in Kolkata and elsewhere.
Around the Howrah railway station, police and railway authorities deployed earthmovers at midnight to dismantle kiosks that for decades had provided livelihoods to poor migrants from rural Bengal, UP and Bihar. In Kolkata’s New Market, demolitions commenced right after it became clear that the BJP was headed for victory in the Assembly election. At Tiljala, following a fire in an unauthorised leather workshop, a multi-storey structure housing hundreds of self-employed people was razed to the ground. Similar summary demolitions were ordered of structures around a cemetery, a residential building, and a marketplace in Siliguri, throwing lakhs of hawkers selling small goods off their livelihoods.
The scale of the demolition drive is astonishing even for a BJP administration. A veritable panzer division of 20 bulldozers was mobilised to clear a market in North Bengal. Ministers have been personally supervising the drive, warning, somewhat gleefully, that the campaign will be taken up in every district in North Bengal. In most cases, the evictees were given no time to clear out their belongings.
Officially, the purpose of all this haste is to reclaim government lands from illegal encroachments. But it goes beyond that. In most cases, the people thrown off the land are Muslims or Trinamool Congress supporters. But the haste does not only arise from a desire to show who’s boss. There is a broader political design behind it. For close to half a century, local administration in Bengal has been captive to gangs aligned with whichever party was in power — first the Congress, then the Left Front and until this month, the Trinamool Congress. The intent of these demolitions is to disrupt those old nexuses, the linkages by which local goons enforced street law and ran patronage rackets. People calling themselves civil society tend to support these demolitions, believing that the disruption will lead to lawful administration. Often, it does not. New gangs replace the old, or the old order simply switches sides.
Local authorities carrying out the razings say they are only executing eviction orders served months and years ago. That’s the classic ruse that barely conceals the fact that evictions are executed only if the party in power allows them.
The Supreme Court has, in a landmark ruling, declared punitive demolitions unconstitutional and laid down pan-India guidelines on civic evictions. Authorities are required to serve a minimum of 15 days’ written notice and give property owners a fair hearing before taking action. Also, demolitions must be video-recorded. Officials who break these rules face contempt of court and are held personally liable to pay for the rebuilding of the destroyed properties.
However, despite the clarity of that ruling, there are few instances of contempt action being initiated against local authorities when they do not follow the guidelines. Court intervention is often limited to giving stay orders, which neither give succour to the evictees who have lost their livelihoods, nor deter the authorities. The only purpose this mixed messaging serves is to embolden the government to selectively use evictions as a political tactic rather than a civic necessity.