New Delhi: Two days after the Supreme Court came down heavily against the demolition of property of people accused of crime, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath on Wednesday (September 4) continued to gloat over the use of bulldozers by his government and almost compared himself to one.
“Not everyone’s hands can fit on a bulldozer,” said Adityanath with a smirk at an official event in Lucknow.
The audience, which included newly-appointed government staff, responded with a loud applause.
“Iske liye dil aur dimaag dono chaiye. Bulldozer jaisi shramta aur drid pratigya jis mein ho, wohi bulldozer chala sakta hain (One needs both heart and mind for this. Only those who have the capability and determination of a bulldozer can use a bulldozer),” said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Adityanath, while taking a swipe at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, further said, “Those who rub their noses (surrender) before rioters, will become dispirited by just the sight of a bulldozer.”
Adityanath was speaking at a government function where he was distributing appointment letters to selected persons in the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission. In his address, he attacked the previous SP government, accusing it of creating a “crisis of identity” due to corrupt acts and lawlessness.
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Adityanath, who has since 2017 rampantly authorised and promoted the use of bulldozers on the homes and commercial establishments of his political opponents as well as ordinary citizens, made this comments apparently in response to Yadav’s comment a day earlier.
Addressing a meeting of party workers in Lucknow on Tuesday (September 3), Yadav, who often mockingly refers to Adityanath as ‘bulldozer baba’, said that if his party forms the government in Uttar Pradesh in 2027, all the bulldozers in the state would be directed towards Gorakhpur. The eastern Uttar Pradesh city is the political bastion of Adityanath and Yadav’s reference to Gorakhpur is seen as a direct attack on the chief minister.
It is, however, not the first time that Yadav has threatened to use bulldozers against the BJP if he returned to power. Before the 2022 assembly election, he promised that if voted to power he would manoeuvre the steering wheel of the bulldozer in a different direction.
Earlier this week, Yadav, after the SC’s observation on demolition of property by governments, said that it was “unconstitutional” to use bulldozers [to demolish properties].
The large earthmoving machines used for construction across the world have in several states of the country, especially Uttar Pradesh, emerged as tools and symbols of demolition over the years.
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Adityanath’s comments on the use of bulldozers in response to Yadav’s warning, came just two days after the Supreme Court said it proposed to lay down “pan-India” guidelines on the demolition of properties.
“How can anybody’s house be demolished only because he is an accused? Even if he is a convict, it can’t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law,” Justice B.R. Gavai said.
Adityanath seems to be unaffected by the apex court’s observations.
At the Lucknow event, he said his government would not hesitate to seize the property of those who engage in wrongdoing or corruption and distribute it among the poor.
He promised to remove all “barriers” that came in the way of his government’s efforts to provide jobs to aspirants on the basis of their merit and capabilities.
“If anyone becomes a barrier in the way of merit and capabilities, we will remove and dismantle those barriers,” Adityanath said.
Yadav accused Adityanath of selective and deliberate use of bulldozers to “instill fear” and demolish people’s homes.
The Adityanath government was using bulldozers as an act of vindictiveness and to “demean” people through on the back of state power and “arrogance,” said Yadav in response to questions by journalists.
