The national capital witnessed another round of 'bulldozer politics' on Monday after the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) scheduled an anti-encroachment drive at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of a three-month-long agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act beginning December 2019.
While the Supreme Court, unlike the previous instance when the North Delhi Municipal Corporation carried out demolitions in Jahangirpuri last month, refused to interfere or stay the exercise on a petition by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Delhi unit, the drive was halted due to stiff resistance from local residents of Shaheen Bagh as hundreds of people gathered on the streets and atop buildings.
A senior SDMC official also said that the encroachments that were previously found along the stretch were found to be “already removed”. A scaffolding outside a building that was set to be razed was voluntarily removed by the shop owners in the building, prompting civic authorities to call off the exercise.
