4 min readNew DelhiApr 21, 2022 06:59 PM IST
First published on: Apr 21, 2022 at 06:48 PM IST
A day after several structures were demolished at Jahangirpuri in New Delhi on Wednesday, several companies of police stood for their roll call in riot gear, carrying tear gas munitions and shields on Thursday morning.
In the afternoon, the Supreme Court ordered the status quo in the north-west Delhi locality for at least two weeks, after which it will hear the matter of demolitions again.
Waiting for the court to decide on whether the demolition drive would continue, people and the security personnel were both unsure of what the day would bring.
Preparations, however, were underway for a visit by a delegation of Congress leaders. Drones surveyed the area, while security personnel took up positions waiting for the visit by a delegation.
Around 11am, Congress leaders started to arrive.
Former Congress MLA Hari Shankar Gupta was the first to reach. “Our purpose here is to meet the people and see what the state of affairs is,” he said.
A larger delegation from the party reached Kushal Chowk at around 12.15 pm. Ajay Maken and Haroon Yusuf were among those who came, but they were not allowed to meet those whose stalls and properties had been removed on Wednesday.
“There is no policy which says demolitions can be done without prior notice. We want to tell people that this incident should not be looked at through the prism of religion,” Maken said.
The police in the morning had placed additional barricades to stop access for the media and locals to the mosque site and the area where buildings were razed. Congress leader Anil Chaudhary sat in protest against the police for not allowing them to meet people. He left after several requests from the police.
“We were given permission and we came here to appeal for peace. People of Delhi do not want to fight with each other. It was the BJP’s conspiracy…because of anger against the BJP due to issues like the price rise. They got zero seats in the bye-election…It is due to their conspiracy that the violence took place. But now people are very cooperative. We came here and appealed for peace,” said Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil.
Two AAP MLAs, Sanjeev Jha and Pawan Kumar Sharma, visited the site later in the day.
“The BJP-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi is to blame for first allowing encroachment and then removing it in this way. If they wanted to remove encroachment, they have the right to but not without following due process. They want to fan the flames of unrest,” Sharma said.
The people who were affected by the demolitions on Wednesday, meanwhile, are left to pick up the pieces. Akbar (35), who lost his soft-drinks shop, was anxious. “I do not know what will happen. I am just hoping for some relief. Yesterday some lawyers who practise at the Supreme Court visited my house and took copies of my MCD vendor certificate and the copy of a challan I had paid for. They have promised to help me with compensation. My family depends on it. We have nothing left,” Akbar said.
Sarika (22) has been trapped inside her one-room home with her three children and a relative since the staircase to her first-floor home was demolished in the drive. She was yet to leave the house as her family members had not been able to fashion a makeshift ladder to reach the first floor.
A Congress delegation led by Ajay Maken visits the violence-affected Jahangirpuri area. (PTI) 
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