On May 3, a CPI(ML) team visited the Wazirpur industrial area in Delhi and met families affected by the bulldozer action carried out on May 2. Barely a day after the country marked May Day, Modi BJP’s bulldozers tore through the homes of poor working class families in Wazirpur without any warning, reducing lives, livelihoods and years of struggle to rubble.
The party expressed strong solidarity with the victims and condemned the action as an attack on the working poor.
The visit was conducted jointly with AICCTU, AIPWA and AISA. CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member and Delhi State Secretary Ravi Rai along party Central Committee member Shweta Raj met the affected families and heard their accounts. The bulldozer action on May 2 has impacted around 200 families in the area.
Residents said the demolition was carried out without any notice. Rameshwari Devi said that her small shop, which was her only source of income, was completely destroyed and she now has no means of livelihood left. Pooja, a resident of the area, said that families who had been living there for 26 years are now on the streets with their belongings and children, with everything they had reduced to rubble.
Several families said their belongings were crushed and they have not been able to eat since the demolition. They said they cannot leave their possessions unattended on the street to go for work. Sushma Devi said that at 1 AM, officials arrived to clear debris and began taking away belongings, and only after strong protest were residents able to save some of their possessions. She said families are now left without livelihood, shelter or food.
Saroj said that children’s books were also destroyed, leaving them distressed and without any means to continue their studies. Residents repeatedly stated that no rehabilitation has been provided so far.
CPI(ML) said it is extremely shameful that such an action was carried out on a workers’ residential area immediately after May Day. The area is home to sanitation workers, factory workers, gig workers, domestic workers, e rickshaw drivers, construction workers and those running small food stalls.
The party said that the MCD, railway administration and Delhi Police carried out the demolition with large scale deployment, running bulldozers over people’s homes without any rehabilitation or support. It stated that under BJP rule, such bulldozer actions are continuing in the national capital and across states, targeting the homes of the poor.
CPI(ML) has demanded immediate rehabilitation for all affected families, an end to such bulldozer actions, and compensation for the losses suffered by the residents.
