On the evening of February 8, 2024, the state authorities in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, arrived with bulldozers, accompanied with full police force, to demolish ‘Malik ke Bagiche’ ka Madarsa and the associated mosque, located in the Banbhulpura area. The persons in charge of the Madrasa have claimed that the authorities refused to show them the official order to demolish the school and the mosque. The authorities refused to listen to any of the requests or arguments of those living and working at the Madarsa, including the fact that the matter was pending begore the courts and the Supreme Court had stayed the demolition in January 2023. The officials overseeing the demolition allowed only partial retrieval of religious books by them, before carrying out the demolition.
The demolition was carried out by a joint team from the Nainital district administration and local civic authorities. The residents fought hard to resist the demolition. They set up barricades, to stop the police and authorities. The police lobbed tear gas shells at the people, and lathi charged them, to evict the people resisting the demolition. The women were beaten with lathis by male police officers. Several men were seriously injured. Six people were reported killed and dozens injured when police opened fire on the protestors.
The state government and the Haldwani district authorities have blocked all roads leading to the area, imposed curfew on the area and issued shoot-at-sight orders. Internet services have been suspended, schools have been closed and large gatherings of people have been banned.
A reign of terror has been unleashed on the people living the area, with the police firing to terrorise people, even after they have retired into their homes late in the night. The authorities have threatened to identify and initiate “strictest action” against all those who try to resist the demolitions and the state terror.
Systematic targeting of the residents of Banbhulpura area
The mosque and Madarsa demolished by the Uttarakhand authorities, is located in the Haldwani railway colony area where more than 4,000 families, mainly Muslim working class families, have been living for the past nearly 50 years.
The Uttarakhand state government and the Railways have claimed the land for expansion of the railways. The land in this area is reported to be nazul land, i.e. non-agricultural government land which had been leased out to the families and in some cases, even converted to freehold. All this has happened over the past decades, with the full knowledge of the same authorities, that are now attacking the people settled there, branding them “illegal encroachers”!
It may be recalled that a little over a year ago, a division bench of the Uttarakhand high court had on December 20, 2022, directed the authorities to forcibly evict nearly 50,000 families from the Banbhulpura region within a week, by even “employing paramilitary forces if required”. Heavy police deployment and drone camera surveillance was used to terrorise the residents.
At that time too, the residents of Banbhulpura organised widespread protests in an attempt to save their homes and livelihood and to highlight the injustice they were facing. They petitioned the Supreme Court against the demolition of their homes and their eviction, which was sought to be carried out without any definite rehabilitation plan. They claimed in their petitions to the Supreme Court that they have valid possession documents for their homes. Their names are in the municipal records and they are paying all taxes, including house tax, regularly. They have gas and water connections and Aadhaar cards on their residential addresses.
On January 5, 2023, the Supreme Court stayed the 2022 order of the Uttarakhand high court.
It was in these circumstances that the demolition of the Madrasa and mosque was carried out in the area on February 8, 2024. The authorities carrying out the demolition paid no heed to the fact that the matter was being heard by the Supreme Court.
The demolition of the Madrasa and mosque in Haldwani and the reign of terror unleashed against the people are part of the systematic use of state terror against the people. It serves to terrorise people into submission before the agenda of enriching the monopoly capitalists, implemented through the various governments in power.
The situation calls on people to step up their united struggle against state terrorism, in defence of their livelihood and rights, By targeting sometimes one section and at other times another, the state is trying to break the fighting unity of the exploited people against the anti-people agenda of the bourgeoisie. The working class and people must foil these attempts.