The bulldozer has come to become a symbol of Hindutva dominance and a mainstay of its politics. ‘Bulldozer Justice,’ (in reality: bulldozer violence) is an increasingly popular political tool in the arsenal of far-right politicians, state actors, and institutions to inflict violence – often against the most marginalised – in the garb of legitimate state action. These extrajudicial punishments disproportionately target Muslims and are done with impunity behind flimsily constructed farces of the state taking a pro-active stance in dealing with illegal encroachments, non-adherence to zoning restrictions, and improper land use.
In the most recent of these cases, eleven families lost their homes for allegedly being involved in illegal cow slaughter. Eleven houses belonging to Muslim families were demolished in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla on June 15, after police reportedly found beef and around 150 cows held for slaughter, following a tip-off.
While the police claimed they undertook the demolitions because the houses were built illegally on government land, this is far from the first instance of demolitions being utilised as a form of extrajudicial punishment in the garb of curbing illegal construction. Mandla Superintendent of Police said the houses were built on government land that was earmarked for cattle grazing and notices were sent out regarding these illegal encroachments and the “accused had ample opportunity to respond.”
State violence In the garb Of addressing illegal encroachments
Commenting on the demolition in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Mohan Yadav said, “The heinous act of cruelty on cows cannot be tolerated at any cost. Police took action in Bhainswahi village of Mandla district and saved about 150 cows. Eleven FIRs have been registered against the accused. Eleven houses and six godowns of these 11 encroachers were freed from encroachment and encroachment was removed from a total area of 12,728 square feet.”
The state is no stranger to cow vigilantism. Madhya Pradesh even passed a law against cow vigilantism to address the growing menace of cow vigilantes perpetrating violence. However, when state actors and institutions effectively take on the roles of vigilantes – albeit in seemingly legitimised ways – the victims are often left with little to no legal recourse against this arbitrary misuse of power.
Although the majority of victims of such bulldozer violence are people suspected of inciting communal tensions, some are accused of violent crimes or other criminal acts.
Amnesty International reported that between April and June 2022, five states – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, and Delhi – resorted to such bulldozer violence by carrying out demolitions in the aftermath of communal violence. The report also found that at least 617 people were rendered homeless due to these demolitions during the mentioned period. They also found that due process was not followed during these demolitions in all five states and they were essentially forced evictions where no adequate notice was provided or avenues for legal redressal were available.
While a few Hindus accused of violent crime have been targets of such demolitions, this ‘bulldozer justice,‘ is often targeted at Muslims. Amnesty International found that predominantly Muslim localities were targeted and in other localities properties owned by Muslims were selectively chosen, particularly in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, where other nearby properties owned by Hindus were often spared.
After shanties belonging to Rohingya Muslim immigrants said to have been involved in a communal clash were demolished in Haryana’s Nuh, Punjab and Haryana High Court, halting the demolitions, asked if this was an “exercise of ethnic cleansing.” The court said, “The issue also arises whether the buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the State.”
In the past couple of years, bulldozers have been used and heavily featured in election campaigns by the Bharatiya Janta Party and even in speeches by its leaders.
Insisting instances of such ‘bulldozer justice,’ are merely attempts to remedy illegal encroachments is a poorly constructed cover. Behind the thinly veiled guise of encroachments and improper land use the bulldozer is a tool of state-sanctioned violence against the marginalised.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, fifty houses and shops belonging to Muslims were selectively targeted for demolition after an incident of stone-pelting at a Ram Navami procession was reported. While local administration claimed that the structures were brought down because they were illegal, then Madhya Pradesh Home Minister, Narottam Mishra told reporters, “Jis gharon se patthar aaye hai, unn gharon ko hi pattharon ka dher banayenge (The houses from which stones were pelted will be turned to rubble).”
The bulldozer: A symbol of Hindutva dominance
Hindutva is an ideology that is rooted in religious homogeneity and cultural hegemony. It is then fitting that the bulldozer, which has been weaponised to cause devastation and dispossess Muslims, has come to be a symbol of Hindutva dominance. In the past couple of years, bulldozers have been used and heavily featured in election campaigns by the Bharatiya Janta Party and even in speeches by its leaders.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is referred to as Bulldozer Baba. During the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers were placed at rally sites as a symbol of Hindutva political might. This year when Adityanath conducted a roadshow before the Lok Sabha elections, several bulldozers carrying BJP workers were a part of the parade.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, had the moniker of Bulldozer Mama and upon Chouhan completing two years of his fourth term as Chief Minister, he was greeted with over a dozen bulldozers that carried his posters and the moniker prominently displayed.
Hindutva Pop, pop music that promotes Hindutva’s nationalist ideas, has cemented the bulldozer’s status as a tool of Hindutva might. These songs often valorise the bulldozer and those wielding it as a political tool against Muslims.
Bulldozer politics has become a feature of mainstream right-wing politics due to the legitimacy afforded to this particular brand of politics by prominent political leaders in the run-up to the elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, said that the Congress and Samajwadi Party should learn from Adityanath as to where bulldozers must be used. Adityanath, during a different campaign speech, said he would flood Punjab with bulldozers from Uttar Pradesh if BJP won the elections. A few BJP leaders in states like Telangana and Assam even threatened those who don’t vote for the party with bulldozers and demolitions.
The fanfare with which these demolitions take place indicates that this violence against Muslims is viewed as a political victory. In March 2022, demolitions in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur took place with a DJ playing music and the sound of beating drums. Hindutva Pop, pop music that promotes Hindutva’s nationalist ideas, has cemented the bulldozer’s status as a tool of Hindutva might. These songs often valorise the bulldozer and those wielding it as a political tool against Muslims.
The inanimate bulldozer has become a thriving symbol of the might of Hindutva politics among those on the Right. But in reality, it is a symbol of the victimisation of Muslims for some fantasy of a homogenous, Hindu India by an authoritarian state.
Bulldozer violence allows politicians and other state actors to play judge and jury without any consequence or accountability for the lives they ruin. This can hardly be termed as the state seeking retributive justice because many of the accused aren’t even guilty of what they are being accused of, their only crime then is being Muslim in a country that is in the grasp of Hindutva politics. Wasim Sheikh was accused of pelting stones at the Ram Navami procession in Khargone and his shop was demolished. Wasim is a double amputee who lost both his arms in 2005. Even if the accused in these cases is guilty, that is something for the courts to determine and penalise, the executive or other institutions have no role in determining guilt or meting out extrajudicial punishments.
It is unconscionable that a symbol of state violence and abuse is openly being heralded as a representation of the state’s power and is present in rallies, speeches, and rhetoric. ‘Bulldozer Justice,’ is state violence perpetrated against Muslims to deprive them of their homes and livelihood with no regard for due process, the rule of law, or constitutionality. The strong-arming of already vulnerable minorities becoming a celebrated feature of far-right politics speaks to the violent rhetoric that Hindutva espouses and the threat that it poses to millions.
