The Hindu : Congress to hold dharna against demolition plan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Congress to hold dharna against demolition plan

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Showing its open discontent with the large-scale demolition and rehabilitation of slum clusters which have come up illegally on the banks of the Yamuna, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee today announced its decision to hold a sit-in protest outside Raj Ghat on January 30 to protest against the attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre to deprive certain sections of the society of their voting right.

Addressing a meeting of party workers and leaders at the DPCC lawns here, the Delhi PCC president, Prem Singh, said the party would express its solidarity with the residents of the slum clusters by staging the sit-in dharna as it felt that it was inhuman to demolish the clusters in these extremely cold conditions.

Of the view that herding the poor people to the far-off rehabilitation camps which lacked basic facilities like roads, water and electricity supply and schools, was not human, the Congress leader said there was a hidden agenda of the Central Government in this sudden demolition spree, particularly on the banks of Yamuna. ``This is a ploy to deny the poor people living in these areas their voting rights, which went against the very principle of the great democratic traditions of the country,'' Mr Singh said.

Recalling that the Election Commission had in the past put a bar on relocating people of the slum clusters just before the Lok Sabha elections as it did not want anyone to the deprived of their democratic right of exercising their franchise, Mr Singh said the Centre was now blatantly flouting the rules and regulations and driving out people of the clusters to serve the its own ``narrow political agenda''.

Launching a personal attack on Union Tourism Minister, Jagmohan, he said the slum clusters in his New Delhi parliamentary constituency have been targeted in particular as he was keen on driving out those people whom he considered to be the vote bank of the Congress.

The former Member of Parliament from Outer Delhi, Sajjan Kumar, and Member of Legislative Assembly from Minto Road constituency, Tajdar Babbar, also criticised the Centre for relocation of the cluster and warned that they would not allow the defenceless poor to be treated inhumanly.

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