Minority appeasement politics initiated by Kejriwal related to the allocation of around 5,000 square metres of land in Dwarka’s Sector 22 to the Haj House has miserably failed as a delegation of Khap Panchayat of Palam led by Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta met Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri, demanded the cancellation of the project.
The History
The Haj House was first proposed back in 2008 by former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit. It is supposed to assist with immigration, accommodation, rooms for prayers for pilgrims. In 2018, Arvind Kejriwal led the Aam Aadmi Party government allocated Rs 94 crore for it, followed by a protest gathered by Dwarka residents at the proposed site.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) was against it since its proposal and has been protesting against the construction of a Haj House for Muslim pilgrims on government land in Delhi’s Dwarka while accusing the Arvind Kejriwal government of indulging in ‘land jihad’. VHP’s central joint general secretary Surendra Jain further accused Kejriwal of Muslim appeasement. He claimed public places were being encroached illegally, and masjids and Mazars were being built forcefully.
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Back in August this year, president of the All Dwarka Residents Federation (ADRF) Ajit Swami, led a protest along with a large group of residents from Dwarka and nearby urban villages against the project in Dwarka’s Sector 22 and said the Haj house might lead to a “law-and-order problem” in the area. They even wrote a letter to lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal, who also happens to be the chairperson of the DDA (Delhi Development Authority), asking him to cancel land allotment made for the Haj House. Swami further said that the money for the construction could be used for another noble cause. There are no such houses/facilities for people of other faiths who go on pilgrimages.”
As per recent developments, on 16th September, the delegation proposed and handed over a memorandum to the AAP minister during the meeting, however, there was no immediate reaction from the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government.
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Delhi BJP chief, Gupta said it is rather ironic that there has been an ongoing shortage of land plots for schools, colleges, and hospitals in Delhi, yet the AAP government has decided to allocate land in Dwarka sector 22 to a particular minority community “much against the wishes of locals.”
“The fact is, there are hardly any people from the minority community living in the area where the land has been allocated for the Haj House,” he added.
Although Kejriwal wanted to appeal to the minority community for vote bank politics, his strategy has miserably failed and triggered anger amongst the Hindu community instead.