Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress leader Ajay Singh on Wednesday questioned the way the Madhya Pradesh government went about demolishing `illegal' structures in riot-hit Khargone, and compared it to the repressive measures once used by the British.
The BJP government completed the probe in a single day and pulled down 90 structures, he claimed, asking which "technique" enabled such swift action.
The "bulldozer mama" is an Indian version of the British colonial rule, Singh said, apparently targeting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is fondly called `Mama'.
"The entire Madhya Pradesh is asking if the Rowlatt Act, which provided for no appeal, no justification and did not allow even a lawyer, and which was scrapped during the British period, has come back into force again?" asked Singh, a former Leader of Opposition in the MP Assembly.
The state government undertook a demolition drive in Khargone city after stone-pelting during a Ram Navami procession led to communal violence there.
Officials claimed that these were illegal structures and notices had been issued to them before the April 10 violence.
"Why are the houses of several innocent people being demolished without any probe and without any legal basis," Singh said in a statement here.
"Are people now slaves of the BJP government after the British rule..... through which technique the state government has completed the probe in just a single day and demolished 90 houses in Khargone?" he asked.
Action against encroachment on government land was understandable, but innocent families were being targeted in the drive, he alleged.
"Shivraj is enthusiastically copying the Yogi (Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath), but it will prove to be counterproductive for him," the Congress leader said.
The properties of such persons (accused of encroaching on government land or carrying out illegal construction) should be seized till the crime is proved in a court, Singh said, adding that demolitions will not reduce crime.
Chouhan should order a thorough probe as to how many houses of innocent persons were demolished and compensate such persons, he demanded.
