Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Mar 1, 2025

Later to the Readers, Mainstream

An unacknowledged political import from Israel, the deployment of bulldozers for the destruction of the properties of people from the minorities or criminals has become a symbol of majoritarian politics in India, starting 2017 with its use by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s BJP govt in Uttar Pradesh. In late 2024, the Supreme Court of India ruled against illegal ‘bulldozer justice’ [1]. But the top courts’ rulings are not always followed by the police. We just witnessed an incident where a man’s shop was demolished [2] based on whims of hyperactive officials reacting to rumours over so called anti-national slogans being shouted. This latest incident happened during the India Pakistan Cricket match of 23 Feb 2025 as part of the Champions trophy. A complaint was filed by a man who is an active member of the far right Vishwa Hindu Parishad who accused a 14-year-old boy and his parents in Malvan town in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra over the teen’s loud vocal support for Pakistan’s cricket team, voiced inside his house [3]. The police filed a First Information Report (FIR) under BNS section 196 (for promoting enmity between groups) and the teen and the parents were detained and were finally released a few days later [4], but the local authorities moved to demolish the property of the father of the accused boy. We may appeal to the courts to take action in keeping with its rulings, but such incidents are growing in our authoritarian society and can only be checked if a social consensus is built in society to check illegality and unconstitutional ways. How is cheering for an opponent’s team a crime? 75 years after the partition of India, isn’t it time to have normal sporting ties between neighbours? India is a leading member of the International cricketing body the ICC, and it is shocking that the Indian & Pakistani teams can’t travel to each other’s countries; The opposition parties in parliament, social movements and civil society groups must stand up to educate the public against bulldozer justice and hyper nationalism and its perils

March 1, 2025 —HK