New Delhi

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday called the demolition carried out by North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri a "targeted drive" adding that BJP and AAP are giving collective punishment to the Muslims.

He further asked the ruling dispensation at the Centre why the structures were not brought down for the past seven years if they were illegal.

"The BJP and AAP are presenting an example of vigilante justice. You are giving a collective punishment to the Muslims. If the structures were illegal and unauthorised, then why was the BJP government sleeping for the last seven years? You have targeted a community and vandalised their properties. Who are you to decide a criminal? The court will decide. You are showcasing cruelty," Owaisi told ANI.

"Legally, a new bulldozer procession has been taken out. Muslims are undergoing collective punishment... be scared of a poor's curse," Owaisi said as he reached Jahangirpuri where an anti-encroachment drive took place earlier in the day before the Supreme Court stayed it.

"If the police themselves don't give permission, how did the yatra take place? How did people have weapons? Had they (police) stopped them and seized weapons, we would not  have to see this day," he said.

Referring to the Turkman gate demolition in 1976 under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the AIMIM chief said that the Congress party is "nowhere to be seen" today.
"I want to remind the BJP and AAP that Congress had also done Turkmangate. Today, the party is nowhere to be seen in the country. You are throwing the poor out of their homes in your arrogance," he said.

Coming down heavily on the BJP for "breaking the shops in front of the mosques", Owaisi asked why was the same not done for the "shops in front of the temple".

"You broke the shops in front of the mosques. Why didn't you do the same with the shops in front of the temple? This is a targeted demolition. I condemn it. I thank the Supreme Court for taking a note of the incident and staying it immediately. Even after the Supreme Court order, they did not stop," he said.

The AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP also took aim at the Aam Aadmi Party and said that the people living in the area are Indians and not "Bangladeshis or Rohingyas".

"What kind of talks is the AAP doing? They are saying that the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are living there. All of them are the residents of India. Can't they see the poverty?" he said.
 

“I've said this before, bulldozer will work on Ansar, Ahmed but not on Arjun, Ajay. That's the difference. Ansar remains Ansar even if he's in BJP or AAP... this demolition is vigilante justice... Polls will come and go but what about those who came on roads during Ramzan?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered to maintain a "status-quo" on the demolition drive conducted by North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri in the national capital.

The court said it will hear on Thursday the petition challenging the special joint encroachment removal programme in Jahangirpuri of the civic bodies including the NDMC and the PWD.

The court's order came even as bulldozers started razing structures in the area as per orders of the BJP-controlled North Delhi Municipal Corporation and amid heavy police presence. The "encroachment removal action programme" was scheduled to take place on Wednesday and Thursday after the area witnessed violence on April 16 during a religious procession.