Left without homes, 550 displaced Muslim families of Kalyannagar to restart stir

Professor J S Bandukwala, who has been leading the agitation since 2014, has written to CM Rupani terming the BJP-led VMC’s conduct “most shameful”.

Protesting residents of Kalyannagar meet the locked gates at the premises of the VMC on Wednesday. (Express File Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Almost a year after the construction of their in-situ rehabilitation project was discontinued since the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) “exhausted” its funds, about 550 Muslim families of Kalyannagar, who were displaced in the November 2014 demolition drive undertaken by the civic body, have vowed to restart their agitation against the civic body.

Professor J S Bandukwala, who has been leading the agitation since 2014, has now written to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, likening the developments to the apartheid system of South Africa, and terming the BJP-led VMC’s conduct “most shameful”.

Bandukwala’s memorandum to Rupani rejects the offer of the VMC to facilitate alternate relocation of the families to Tandalja, after discontinuing the rental compensation of Rs 3,000, that was agreed upon in a 2015 resolution between the VMC, elected BJP MLAs and the representatives of the families to end the deadlock over the rehabilitation.

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The VMC, in its 2015 resolution, had promised to reconstruct the new homes in-situ at Kalyannagar under the then existing Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) scheme. However, VMC said it had “exhausted funds”, and ordered a probe against the executive engineer. The construction came to a standstill and, in August 2017, the civic body discontinued the rental compensation, stating that the families “have the option of accepting the new homes in Tandalja”.

Stating that Muslims have the right to live anywhere, and not just in Muslim ghettos like Tandalja, Bandukwala said, “The conclusion we can draw is that Muslims can only live in select Muslim localities. This is segregation as practised in the USA before Martin Luther King struggled to abolish it 50 years ago. Note that this apartheid system last prevailed in South Africa… Does Gujarat want a repeat of this apartheid in 2018 vis-à-vis Muslims?”

He urged the CM to ensure that the construction on the promised homes in Kalyannagar resumes soon.

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