Mumbai: In his 22 years of running an automobile repair shop at Mira Road’s Haidri Chowk on the outskirts of Mumbai, Mohammad Abul Hussain Shaikh said, he had never once felt unsafe or faced any trouble. That changed Tuesday, when bulldozers dispatched by the Mira Bhaindar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) tore down his shop along with 14 others.
“It was around 5 pm Tuesday. I was inside my shop when the police came. They simply took me by my hand and pulled me out of the shop. Later, the bulldozer destroyed my shop,” a shocked and confused Shaikh, the sole breadwinner of his family of four, told ThePrint as he and other shopkeepers milled around at the demolition site, looking for anything they could salvage from the wreckage of their shops.
On the night of 22 January, a religious procession in Nayanagar — a Muslim-majority area where Haidri Chowk is located — to mark the consecration of the Ram idol in Ayodhya allegedly came under attack, leading to a communal clash. Stone-pelting was also reported the next day.
Thirteen people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
On Tuesday, bulldozers rolled in, just as they did following similar communal incidents in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri in 2022 and Haryana’s Nuh last year.
The clashes and demolition drive come months before two major elections — the general election likely in April-May and the Maharashtra assembly polls, due in October.
On its part, the MBMC has denied allegations that this was a punitive action, insisting it was a routine anti-encroachment drive. But Shaikh, who had taken his shop premises on lease, claimed that neither his landlord nor the owners of the 14 other shops that were knocked down were given any prior intimation.
“If we were illegal, then where were you for the last 22 years? Why did they not initiate any action earlier?” he asked.
When ThePrint reached him for a response, MBMC Deputy Commissioner Maruti Gaikwad repeated the civic body’s line that it was “routine procedure”. On Shaikh’s allegation that there was no prior notice, the official said: “When encroachments are on footpaths and structures are illegal then, according to the rules, there’s no question of giving any notice”.
ThePrint tried to reach Madhukar Pandey, the police commissioner of Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar, via phone calls and text messages. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Also Read: Rumours, ‘provocative’ videos, open wounds — Nuh tries to unravel what fuelled communal violence
Violence and the aftermath
Every day for the last two years, M.D. Mushtaq would come to the shop next to Shaikh’s to sell the day’s stock of vegetables. On Tuesday, his shop, too, was razed.
“I have been here for the past two years or so. I don’t know what happened suddenly that such an action is taken,” Mushtaq told ThePrint.
According to the 2011 census, 16 percent of the population under MBMC — over 8 lakh — is Muslim. The majority of them live in Nayanagar, a lower-middle-class area.
According to Sadiq Basha, a local activist associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), although the building where the demolished shops were located was the subject of a legal dispute, the area had never seen a demolition drive before this.
“These structures existed for a long time but had never been demolished. The action is politically motivated to polarise votes,” he claimed.
Maharashtra is no stranger to communal clashes — in June, for instance, five people, all minors, were reportedly detained in Kolhapur after a photo of Tipu Sultan that they allegedly circulated led to clashes. There were at least seven incidents of communal violence from March to May last year.
Although the past few years have witnessed bulldozers in the aftermath of communal violence in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, this was the first time such an instance was reported in Maharashtra.
A day after Monday’s clash, BJP’s Kankavli MLA Nitesh Rane visited the police commissioner and urged him to take strict action. “We will not let Nayanagar become Pakistan,” Loksatta quoted him as saying.
This was after he threatened to “kill” in response to the violence.
मीरा रोड मद्ये जे काल रात्री झाल..
एक याद रखना..
चुन चुन के मारेंगे !!!
जय श्री राम 🚩🚩
— nitesh rane (@NiteshNRane) January 22, 2024
BJP’s Mira-Bhayander MLA Geeta Jain, who visited the area Tuesday, also spoke in a similar vein after the incident. In her post on X, she said “atrocities against Sanatani brothers and sisters” won’t be tolerated.
काल रात्री नयानगर मध्ये झालेली घटना अत्यंत चिंताजनक आहे. मिरा भाईंदर मधील सनातनी बांधवांवर झालेला अत्याचार हा बेकायदेशीर असून त्यावर त्वरित कारवाई होणे आवश्यक आहे. काल रात्री टेम्बा हॉस्पिटल येथे जखमी बांधवांना भेट दिली. त्यांची बाजू ऐकून घेतली आणि पोलीस प्रशासनाला तात्काळ…
— Geeta Bharat Jain (@MLAgeetajain) January 22, 2024
Meanwhile, the demolition has left chaos in its wake. Shaikh told ThePrint that he had suffered a loss of Rs 5-6 lakh.
“We tried to show electricity and other utility bills as well as documents (to the authorities),” he told ThePrint. ”The owner of the shop also came with his documents. But they just wouldn’t have any of it. What can we do now but wait patiently for the situation to get better.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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