'Amit Shah, BJP want to disrupt peace': AAP MLA questions timing of NDMC's anti-encroachment drive

PTI

New Delhi, April 20

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Delhi, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan on Wednesday alleged, after the NDMC scheduled an anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri, which saw violent clashes between two communities last week.

In a video message on Twitter, the Okhla MLA said demolition of the houses of “a particular community” just to “harass” them in the holy month of Ramadan on the pretext of an anti-encroachment drive would further spoil the atmosphere in the area.

He appealed to the home minister and the BJP leaders to refrain from resorting to such action, cautioning that the country's atmosphere had already been vitiated.

“Such cheap politics will ruin the country if not stopped in time,” Khan, also the Delhi Waqf Board chairman, said.

The BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has scheduled a two-day anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri, starting Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta had written to the NDMC mayor to identify illegal constructions of “rioters” in Jahangirpuri and demolish them using bulldozers.

The civic body requested Delhi Police to deploy at least 400 personnel, including women, to ensure law and order during the drive.

Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi witnessed violent clashes, including stone-pelting, arson and firing, between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday. Eight police personnel and a local had sustained injuries.

Reacting to the NDMC move, Khan alleged, “The country's atmosphere has already been vitiated and efforts are being made to make it worse. Amit Shah and the BJP want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Delhi.”

“Just four days ago, there was a riot in Jahangirpuri. An order has now been issued to run bulldozers on the houses of the people there and harass a particular community in the name of anti-encroachment drive,” he added.

Questioning the timing of the move and the BJP dispensation's intent behind it, Khan said the civic body could have taken up the anti-encroachment drive later, “if it is legal”.

“It's the holy month of Ramadan. I want to know what is your compulsion that you are going to demolish the houses of the people, as you did in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in the name of launching an anti-encroachment drive in an area hit by rioting just four days ago and the tempers are yet to cool down,” he asked the home minister and the other BJP leaders.

“This is not right. I appeal to Amit Shah and all the BJP leaders to refrain from resorting to such actions and vitiating the atmosphere of Delhi,” Khan said.

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