Yogi’s demolition drive displaces thousands of Muslim residents in Lucknow
Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath-led Hindutva government in Uttar Pradesh state has started a large-scale demolition in an area in Lucknow amid heavy deployment troops, leaving thousands of residents mostly Muslims in distress and trauma.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) deployed heavy machinery and forces’ personnel to raze shops and houses in the over 50-year-old Lucknow’s Akbar Nagar locality the other day. Reportedly, over 25,000 people will be affected by the demolitions. The locality is said to have a considerable number of Muslim residents, who are mostly daily wage earners.
As per reports, residents scrambled to gather their belongings as bulldozers moved in, with some resisting the demolition. Earlier, the area was barricaded, and traffic diverted to facilitate the drive, scheduled in two shifts. Eight companies of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), and Rapid Action Force (RPF) were deployed in the area.
The Akbar Nagar residents have lived in fear of losing their homes for months, with LDA demolishing nearby localities. A 12-year-old girl’s viral video plea to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has highlighted the desperation of the situation. “We were asked to vacate the premises where we have lived since birth. My whole family is in trauma,” the girl further says in the video.
Critics argue that the demolition is part of the Yogi government’s “Riverfront Project”, displacing thousands of residents and livelihoods.
The BJP-ruled Indian states, and in particular the government in UP which is headed by Yogi who is known for his anti-Muslim bigotry, have been demolishing Muslims properties over the past many years on one pretext or other. As per a report by New Delhi-based Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), 1.5 lakh houses were felled by demolition drives between 2022 and 2023. This had led to the displacement of over 7.4 lakh people.
Civil society members and activists have expressed concern over the demolitions, terming it a deliberate form of targeted violence against minority communities such as Muslims. Amnesty International, in its two reports released earlier this year, also called the demolitions of Muslim properties a form of extrajudicial punishment and urged the Indian authorities to immediately halt what it described the unlawful demolitions of homes, businesses and places of worship belonging to the minority community across several states.
