On June 12, civic authorities in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh tore down the home of Muslim activist Javed Mohammed and his family in another round of the bulldozer retributive injustice being carried out in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
The next day, Congress party workers took the streets in large numbers in New Delhi as a heavy police force was deployed.
The party was protesting against not the bulldozing of Mohammed’s home but the Enforcement Directorate summons to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in an alleged case of money laundering.
Mohammed’s home was razed two days after of violent protests erupted on June 10 in many parts of the country against disparaging remarks against Prophet Muhammad made by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal.
There is no provision in Indian law that allows for the demolition of the homes of those accused of a crime and the Supreme Court on June 14 too said that such action cannot take place without issuing a notice.
Cartoonists in India expressed their outrage at the demolition of Mohammed’s home and also derided the Congress’s inability to get its act together in the face of multiple crises.
Some reflected on how the bulldozer had become an unfortunate symbol of a “new India”.
The selective targetting of Muslims was the subject of this work.
Sajith Kumar of the Deccan Herald noted that such arbitrary demolition had drawn little condemnation. The bulldozing of Mohammed’s home, in fact, was reported gleefully by several television news channels.
Satish Acharya referenced the new low the rupee hit against the US dollar on Monday at a record Rs 78.11 to one dollar.
One lambasted the Congress for sticking its head in the sand and focusing on case of alleged money-laundering involving the sale of the National Herald newspaper
Sandeep Adhwaryu of The Times of India mocked the Congress by also drawing parallels with how many Muslim countries had condemned the remarks made by the BJP spokespersons against Prophet Muhammad but not the heightened vitriol and hate speech against Indian Muslims.
Some criticism was also aimed at the judiciary as arbitrary bulldozing of homes has become a pattern despite being completely illegal.
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