In a powerful show of solidarity with Delhi’s displaced jhuggi residents, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, along with Party’s Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj visited Wazirpur on Saturday, slamming the BJP government for its ruthless demolition drive. Calling out BJP for betraying its promise of ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makaan’, the leaders emphasised that the BJP government has snatched both livelihood and shelter from jhuggi residents. Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and former Model Town MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi were also present.
During the visit, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh stated that the BJP Government has ruthlessly run bulldozers over these jhuggis, forcing hundreds of people onto the streets. “Just as BJP is driving people from Bihar out of Delhi, they will now drive BJP out of Bihar,” he said.
Sanjay Singh added, “I will raise the voice of these people from Purvanchal who have been rendered homeless in the upcoming Parliament session.” He criticised the BJP for begging for votes from people of Purvanchal during the Bihar elections, while displacing those very same people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who live in Delhi. “We will go to Bihar, expose the BJP, and bring their true face before the people,” he said.
He added, “It is extremely unfortunate that Delhi’s CM Rekha Gupta is demolishing the jhuggis of the poor and rendering them homeless, while simultaneously preparing a grand ‘Maya Mahal’ for her own stay. She has got two bungalows allotted for herself, which will be equipped with all the luxurious amenities. While every comfort is being arranged for the CM in Maya Mahal, the basic needs of hundreds of people living in the jhuggis for years have been completely ignored.”
Highlighting BJP’s broken promises to the Delhi’s downtrodden, Sanjay Singh said, “During the elections, several senior BJP leaders had stayed overnight in these very jhuggis. They made lofty promises to the poor back then. They even distributed cards promising ‘jahan jhuggi wahan makaan’ (a house where the jhuggi stands). And yet, their jhuggis have now been demolished.”
“On the other hand, the Chief Minister keeps repeating every day that no jhuggis are being demolished. She should come to Wazirpur and see for herself the helpless conditions these poor families are being forced to live in. Their livelihoods were based here, their children studied in nearby schools — what will they do now,” he asked.
Emphasising AAP’s continued support for jhuggi dwellers, he continued, “The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal have always stood with the downtrodden. When the AAP was in government, Arvind Kejriwal did not allow even a single jhuggi to be demolished.”
Sanjay Singh asserted that even while in opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party will continue to do everything possible to protect the jhuggis. Wherever legal aid is needed, we will provide it. We will fight for the rights of jhuggi dwellers — on the streets, in the courts, and inside the House. AAP will raise this issue in the Vidhan Sabha, and we will raise it in Parliament too. AAP will not tolerate this injustice being done to the poor.
He added, “During the elections, Arvind Kejriwal had warned the jhuggi dwellers to stay alert against the BJP. He had said that even by mistake, if the BJP came to power, they would demolish the jhuggis. Today, his words are turning out to be true. The BJP’s promise of ‘jahan jhuggi, wahan makaan’ was a lie. This is the true character and conduct of the BJP.”
The Rajya Sabha MP emphasised that the government should have worked towards rehabilitating these jhuggi dwellers. As per the law, before any jhuggi is removed, a survey must be conducted, houses must be allotted, and only then should demolition take place. But this government has not only shamed humanity — it has also violated the law by demolishing jhuggis in this manner.
Meanwhile, AAP’s Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “During the elections, BJP’s Delhi State President Virendra Sachdeva, along with several MPs and MLAs, stayed overnight in these jhuggis. At the time, the Aam Aadmi Party had warned the jhuggi residents that these BJP leaders were not here to stay — they were here to inspect which jhuggis to demolish.”
He continued, “We had cautioned that if the BJP won the elections, these same people would get the jhuggis bulldozed. The jhuggi dwellers, however, trusted the BJP’s promises and believed they would actually build houses. That’s why they voted for the BJP. But now, it is the BJP government itself that is making those very people homeless.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj said that people living in jhuggis are only asking that they be given homes first. They are saying — build us proper homes, then remove the jhuggis. But the BJP government is demolishing jhuggis across Delhi without providing homes. In Wazirpur, Okhla, Madrasi Camp in Barapullah, and the jhuggis of Andrews Ganj — bulldozers were sent in. In Rohini Sector-22, 300 jhuggis were first set on fire and then completely cleared away.
He added, “CM Rekha Gupta lies every day, claiming that her government is not demolishing a single jhuggi. But in reality, hundreds of jhuggis are being openly torn down every day. The Chief Minister is lying daily, and the poor are being deceived — what kind of joke is this? These jhuggi residents had small means of livelihood. Their small shops were also demolished. The government has neither given them employment nor arranged any alternative sources of livelihood. In Delhi, the poor are losing both their jobs and their roofs.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj concluded by stating, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had visited the flats constructed at Jailerwala Bagh and promised that every jhuggi dweller would first be given a house via ‘jahan jhuggi, wahan makaan’ — and only after that would any jhuggis be removed. But now, blatant lies are being told, and the poorest of the poor are being betrayed.”
