BJP – Propped Up Govt Likely in Karnataka by February; Bangalore Development Authority’s STF on Demolition Spree of Muslims’ Houses Without Issuing Notices

The Siddaramiah Government is teetering on the brink as the Congress High Command is wavering to take a decision about the continuance or otherwise of Siddaramaiah as the chief minister. Sensing instability of the government, the Hindutva elements in the Bengaluru Development Authority’s (BDA) Special Task Force (STF) have gone berserk and are demolishing houses of poor Muslims without issuing notices, even though the residents produced e-khata before demolition started.

The latest demolitions were carried out in the early hours of Thursday without any written notice, a fact later shamelessly admitted by BDA officials themselves. According to the residents of Thoba layout in Thanisandra, said that the heartless and biased officials arrived with police personnel and bulldozers around 7 a.m. They ordered the residents to vacate the houses immediately and began razing homes despite many families claiming possession of valid documents, including e-khata certificates, electricity connections, and the property papers. Several residents, including women and those with severe health issues, were rendered homeless overnight.

The BDA Commissioner, P. Manivannan, acknowledged that a ‘prima facie lapse’ by the agency’s Special Task Force was committed by the STF. He disclosed that there was no record to show that residents had been served notices. The judiciary has time and again warned officials in different states that demolitions must not take place without notice. This judicial directive has been blatantly overlooked by the biased officials, perhaps thinking that a BJP propped- up government may take over in Karnataka and all action against them will be stalled by their political bosses. 

The BDA has ordered a probe for an eyewash. Justice (Rtd) Niyaz Ahmed has been appointed to investigate the matter within 30 days. It will be keenly watched if Niyaz Ahmed is different from Abdul Nazeer. The reward for damaging community interests is always waiting and rewarding! As usual, the spineless and hapless community leaders feebly demanded accountability and justice. must follow, warning that continued silence and impunity risk further alienation of marginalised communities. The Congress Muslim leaders in Karnataka are maintaining a deafening silence, fearing expulsion from the party and a lack of throwing bones at them to buy their silence.

Some sort of condemnation has poured in from Muslim religious and community leaders following the demolition of homes by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in Thanisandra, north Bengaluru, where about 22 structures were reportedly razed without any prior notice, leaving families without any shelter over their heads. After the demolitions, Maulana Mufti Dr. Md Maqsood Imran Rashadi, Imam and Khateeb of Jamia Masjid, Bengaluru, disclosed that he personally visited Thoba Layout in Thanisandra, Nagawara, after the thunderbolt bulldozer onslaught.

“The bulldozer action against Muslims’ houses in Bengaluru has shamed humanity,” he opined. He termed demolitions without prior notice “a blatant act of oppression and an inhuman practice” that had caused immense misery and irreparable destruction.

Some Muslim religious and community leaders met the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to have a photo-opportunity and also express “strong displeasure and concern” over the injustice. They were seen as demanding strict action against ‘responsible officials’ rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced families. The names and photos of some religious officials, who are regularly seen bartering community interests in Orangepur headquarters, are not being published here.

Mufti Iftikhar Ahmed, President of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Karnataka, lambasted the government’s claims of ignorance regarding the demolition being carried out in Kogilu and Thoba Layout. “If the government truly had no information about the demolitions, it raises a serious question about who is actually running the administration,” he thundered.

A concerned citizen, Abdul Ghafoor Quadri, lamented that it is shameful that a government formed with the support of minorities, particularly Muslims, has adopted divisive bulldozer action reminiscent of previous extreme-prone, communal anti-Muslim regimes.

It is significant to recall that Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivkumar have been at each other’s political throats like ferocious cocks for power. Shivkumar has already given an inclination of his mood by singing RSS’s song in the Legislative Assembly. It was a warning to the High Command that he is keeping other options open. The allegedly ‘40 per cent commission’ BJP government is aiming to do a redux and fish in the troubled political waters in Karnataka. In the present Assembly, Shivkumar or even Siddaramaiah, if kicked out, may fancy the coveted chair by taking support from political opportunists of the BJP and the JD (S) with 84 members put together. Only 123 members’ support is needed for a majority. DK or Siddaramaiah will need only 39 members to break away from the Congress. Whoever goes to the BJP will be made a ‘Shinde’ and left in the lurch at the political crossroads, like in Maharashtra.

The biased and tainted STF officials must be booked under UAPA as they are waging war against fellow citizens by destroying their houses for no valid reasons and without notice. The Congress High Command must decide on the CM’s chair sooner rather than later, before more houses and localities of Muslims are destroyed or Muslims are targeted in communal riots to bring down the government. The Kogilu destruction was not a lesson for the Congress. If things continue to escalate and aggravate with more destruction of poor people’s houses, Congress will learn a very hard lesson in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and West Bengal.

Let the ‘Thy’land boy wake up!