Authorities in Delhi have started a drive to free government property from the clutches of illegal encroachments. Shaheen Bagh, which had become a den of illegal activities has now begun facing the music. On 9th May, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation re-started its anti-encroachment drive in the Kalindi Kunj-Jamia Nagar area near Shaheen Bagh and Sriniwaspuri. Delhi Police, accompanied by bulldozers of Municipal authorities, wholeheartedly participated in the demolition drive. Soon, massive Islamist protests threatened to turn the law-and-order situation in the national capital upside down, and the demolition drive was paused.
SDMC, controlled by the BJP, maintains that the demolition drive will resume soon and will be taken to its logical end. However, the Communists, who are proven allies of Islamists have got their nerves wrecked. First, the action being taken against illegal Islamist encroachment infuriated leftists. Then, the Supreme Court mauled the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for filing frivolous pleas in which the party had no stake.
SC Grills Communists
The Supreme Court Monday refused to entertain a petition filed by CPI(M) challenging the anti-encroachment drive in Shaheen Bagh. The bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai, while dismissing the pleas as withdrawn said, “What is this CPI(M) party filing this case? We can understand somebody who is affected coming before us… What is the violation of fundamental rights (of the party)? Under Article 32, who can come?”
In fact, the Supreme Court rebuked the Communist party for flooding it with demolition drive-related pleas from all over the country. Justice Rao said: “We are not seized of all encroachments in this country…we made it clear to Mr. Kapil Sibal when he was mentioning about the other parts of the country. We said we are not expressing any view… We have to balance interests… We will definitely interfere, but not encroachments being removed in accordance with law.”
The bench added: “We have never given any license to everybody to come here and then say my house is being demolished even if it is unauthorised. And the Supreme Court would be doing only that… This is too much. Merely because we are showing indulgence, don’t take shelter under the court’s orders.”
Leave alone getting a stay on the demolition drive, what the CPI(M) did definitely get was a good scolding from the apex court.
The Jahangirpuri Episode
The CPI(M) felt emboldened after the Supreme Court stayed a demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area and ordered status quo to be maintained for two weeks.
Earlier, in what came as a rather peculiar development, it was no NDMC official that came to the location with the written Supreme Court order but CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat. Reportedly, while the demolition drive was underway the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member reached Jahangirpuri and forcefully attempted to implement the Supreme Court decision by asking the authorities to stop the demolition process immediately.
Read more: Jahangirpuri is set to become a flashpoint between the Judiciary and Government
Karat or her party does not have the power, nor the jurisdiction to force the authorities to do anything. And yet, her actions suggested that she was acting on behalf of the Supreme Court. The apex court seems to have taken note of the CPI(M)’s reckless behaviour, which is why it pulled up the organisation on Monday.
The Communists will remember the takedown they experienced in the Supreme Court yesterday for a long time to come. This will prevent them from acting in areas where their interference is neither required nor appreciated. Why should the CPI(M) move the Supreme Court with its frivolous pleas when none of the Shaheen Bagh residents have?