Images sourced from Twitter | @dineshgrao
Bengaluru: Days after 200 “kutcha houses” in the Kariyammana Agrahara area of Bengaluru allegedly belonging to illegal Bangladeshis were razed, outgoing KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday, January 23, visited the slums to gather information about the incident. He shared his experience of his visit and his views in a series of tweets. He was accompanied by Congress leaders Ramalinga Reddy, Arshad Rizwan and G Shekar.
It can be recalled that on January 18, 200 houses were demolished, and electricity and water supply were also allegedly cut off in the area. The locals, who claimed to not be Bangladeshis, said that the government had not notified them about the demolition.
An official had told ANI that the demolition was not taken up by the BBMP, however, they did not know who did the work. He added that an inquiry was being held at the commissioner’s level.
“Visited the slums in Bellandur were poor people have been evicted and shanties demolished by a blatant illegal action of the local Police & BBMP authorities. The area MLA @ArvindLBJP seems to be hand in glove. Their plight is pathetic & the state is administration is clueless, [sic]” Dinesh Gundu Rao wrote in a tweet.
Visited the slums in Bellandur were poor people have been evicted and shanties demolished by a blatant illegal action of the local Police & BBMP authorities.
The area MLA @ArvindLBJP seems to be hand in glove.Their plight is pathetic & the state is administration is clueless. pic.twitter.com/uFdjvBbTdI
— ?????? ?????????/ Dinesh Gundu Rao (@dineshgrao) January 23, 2020
He expressed doubt about the incident and the motivations behind it, calling the whole episode “fishy”. “The whole affair seems fishy. In the name of illegal Bangladeshis, hundreds of Kannadigas and other state citizens have been rendered homeless. These people are living on the brink of poverty. How can state authorities and the MLA @ArvindLBJP behave so cruelly??” he asked.
In another tweet, the Congress leader argued that a suitable survey should have been conducted to “identify” them and find out if indeed they are Bangladeshis, and then take “stringent action”. “…Who’s stopping them? Why this illegal demolition drive,” he asked, adding that most of the people, who were rendered homeless by the demolition, hailed from Raichur, Koppal, Kalaburgi etc.
Further, he said that he, along with the other Congress leaders, met several people from Assam and Tripura. “…They showed us their genuine documentation. The Assamese had #NRC documentation but still were shown no mercy by the Bengaluru Police,” he said in a tweet.
Congress blames BJP for incident
Taking to Twitter, former chief minister Siddaramaiah said, “The eviction is an inhumane act by the BJP government in the name of Bangladeshi immigrants… PM Narendra Modi speaks of a separate room to study but here people are denied even a basic shelter. [sic]”
Commenting on the issue, Congress spokesperson V S Ugrappa told NDTV, “All of a sudden, even without verifying whether they belong to Bangladesh, whether they are eligible for citizenship or not… even according to the amended Act, even without verifying that, the authorities went and demolished the structures. God only knows what happens to the people who are there. And ultimately one has to have a human approach… It is nothing but a jungle raj and ultimately the government has to be held responsible.”
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan, on the other hand, credited the government with the demolition. Speaking to NDTV, he said that MLA Arvind Limbavali did the right thing by “urging to vacate”. “The government reacted to his (Limbavali) tweet. We welcome it,” he said. He alleged that for many years, Bangladeshi “infiltrator” and “anti-nationals” have been living in the police station limits. “We had asked the Congress government to send them back to Bangladesh, but when Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister, they did not take any initiative to vacate the illegal sheds. Now, Mr Yediyurappa’s government has taken the initiative to vacate the sheds,” he said adding that the state government had made the right decision.
(With inputs from ANI)
