On February 24, the Congress government in Telangana demolished over 170 houses on 31 acres of land at Vinoba Navodaya Colony in Khammam district. While 4,000-odd police personnel were called in to oversee the demolition, which several families resisted, the Opposition parties Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and BJP condemned the move.
On March 2, however, an unlikely player joined this issue — Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan. Taking to X, Vijayan criticised the A Revanth Reddy-led Congress government for “mirroring the BJP’s bulldozer model” and implicated the principal Opposition in Kerala, the Congress, for the party’s alleged bid to “usurp” poor people’s land in Telangana.
Those close to Vijayan say it was the “plight of several poor people” that prompted him to openly criticise the Congress. But with the Kerala Assembly elections round the corner, and Vijayan seeking a third consecutive term, the demolition issue in Telangana gave the CPI(M) a handle to target its arch Kerala rival Congress, which leads the Opposition UDF in that state.
Why were houses razed?
According to Telangana government sources, around 170 kaccha houses had come up on 31 acres of land, which was initially pooled under the 1951 Bhoodan land reform movement, in the Velugumatla area of Khammam district. Those occupying the land “were not allotted the land”, but were allegedly encroaching upon it, government sources claimed.
According to state Revenue Minister P Srinivas Reddy there are around 760 families occupying the land and that more than half of them do not hail from Khammam.
A government source said the land was worth Rs 300 crore and “had been encroached upon over the past 10 years”. Over the last decade, from 2014 to 2023, the BRS was in power in Telangana.
The government plans to relocate the alleged encroachers to another colony, where houses and plots would be provided to them through the state’s Indiramma housing scheme. “Indiramma houses will be sanctioned to eligible families within 15 days,” Srinivas Reddy told media persons recently. He also said that the eligible displaced families would also be provided access to an Anganwadi centre and government school in their new colony.
According to sources, the ousted families are currently being accommodated in some government facilities in Khammam district.
What are BRS, BJP’s position?
The BJP and BRS have been vocal in their criticism of these demolitions. BRS working president K T Rama Rao or KTR, son of party chief and ex-CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, said, “The real estate greed of three ministers from the district resulted in this misery for the thousands who are left shelterless.” KTR had also visited the demolition site at the time, to express the BRS’s solidarity with them.
The BJP has also alleged that the government was displacing poor people because they want to capitalise on prime land. BJP state president N Ramchander Rao said that the demolitions have left 1,800 individuals from 600 families homeless.
Ramchander Rao alleged that the Revanth Reddy government carried out demolitions despite multiple Telangana High Court orders directing it to maintain the “status quo” on the disputed lands.
Government sources, however, countered these claims, stating, “The High Court had issued a stay over demolition of just a handful of properties. Those properties were left untouched. The government is only clearing the area because it was encroached upon by undeserving parties.”
What did Vijayan say?
Weighing in on the issue, Vijayan said on X, “The demolition of nearly 700 Bhoodan-allotted homes in Khammam, leaving around 3,000 people homeless, exposes the Congress government’s true face in Telangana. This ‘bulldozer raj’ mirrors the BJP’s model of using state power against the poorest.”
He also took aim at the Congress in Kerala. “The Congress leadership in Keralam, which claims to stand with the people, cannot wash its hands of this shame. They must answer for their party’s assault on the marginalised,” he added.
The Telangana Congress reacted strongly to these comments, with several ministers stating that the Kerala CM was “ill-informed” on the matter. They also said that their party’s Kerala unit had nothing to do with the demolitions. A Congress leader said, “Pinarayi Vijayan’s sudden interest in Khammam is his desperate attempt to save his government in Kerala. As he is seeking a third term, he is left with nothing to criticise the Congress in Kerala. Hence he is raking up issues that are beyond his comprehension.”
What is CPI(M)’s stance?
According to some Vijayan supporters, his reaction on X was “not politically motivated”. The CM can respond on matters that concern the poor in general, they said.
Speaking to The Indian Express, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said, “When demolitions of this kind happen in BJP-ruled states, have not both the Congress and Left parties issued statements against this? Then why should similar actions by the Congress government in Telangana be ignored? Why should they be let off the hook? This is not about the elections in Kerala. The fight for justice for the people is an ongoing fight, whether there be elections or not. It is about poor people’s residences being taken away from them. This cannot be tolerated.”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (File Photo) 
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