The term "bulldozer justice," associated with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's strict measures against illegal encroachments, continues to provoke criticism from the Islamo-leftist faction. They argue that the bulldozer actions represent "retributive justice" targeted specifically at Muslims. Reflecting this narrative, Foreign Policy published an article on January 7th titled "How the Bulldozer Became a Symbol of Modi’s India."
“Bulldozers are ubiquitous on construction sites the world over. But in India, they are also something more. Bulldozers have become a symbol, a perpetrator of a divisive and violent brand of retributive justice that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has developed since Modi first came to power in 2014 and, despite growing political and judicial resistance, continues to propagate. Used to target Muslims under the guise of governance, the bulldozer reflects India’s current imbalance along religious lines,” the propaganda piece begins with the following opening paragraph.
Foreign Policy joins Islamists in falsely claiming bulldozer action in India is ‘against Muslims’, ignores fact of illegal properties and encroachment | OpIndia
The article written by Ambreen Agha discusses how bulldozer actions became prominent in Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's leadership. The author contends that CM Yogi has frequently ordered the ‘extrajudicial’ demolition of properties, businesses, houses, and places of worship belonging to Muslims accused of criminal activities or protesting the government. The article further criticizes the spread of CM Yogi’s “bulldozer model” to other BJP-led states like Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsing these actions.
The article also highlights the demolition of 11 Muslim-owned houses in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district after police discovered that the accused had beef in their refrigerators and had been involved in smuggling live cattle. However, the piece neglects to mention that these houses were illegal constructions on government land. Agha appears to focus on the "beef" angle, implying that Muslim minorities are being targeted for their food preferences, while disregarding the fact that cows are sacred to Hindus and slaughtering them is illegal in many Indian states.
Agha also cites the case of Naseeb Chaudhary’s house being demolished in Rajasthan after his involvement in a stabbing incident at a Hindu temple came to light. The Foreign Policy article subtly downplays Chaudhary’s crime, focusing instead on the demolition of his illegally constructed house. Bulldozer action was taken on the encroachment of temple land, and the Jaipur Development Authority had issued a notice about the illegal construction before the demolition occurred.
The article echoes the false narrative pushed by both Indian leftist media and international outlets like The New York Times, claiming that the BJP government is systematically targeting Muslim properties for retribution. In contrast, properties belonging to criminals like Vikas Dubey and Vijay Mishra, who were not Muslim, were also bulldozed and seized, yet such instances are left out of the Foreign Policy article.
OpIndia previously reported that only 19.3% of the top 62 land mafias, whose illegal properties were confiscated by the government, were from the Muslim community. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh freed up to 67,000 hectares of land from illegal encroachments by land mafias. However, the continuous propaganda around Muslim victimhood has led to misinterpretations, such as the claims made by U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker in 2022, who accused Hindu right-wing groups in New Jersey of using bulldozers as a weapon against Muslims.
Returning to the Foreign Policy article, it highlights carefully selected cases that further its narrative of the BJP government’s alleged hostility towards Muslims. The article laments the symbolic use of bulldozers by Hindu nationalists, pointing out how the bulldozer has become a political icon, with some even getting tattoos of it. The article also criticizes the “Batenge toh Katenge” slogan, which CM Yogi Adityanath first used in August 2024. While the slogan was aimed at warning against the divisive tactics of opposition parties, Agha misinterprets it as a rallying cry for Hindu unity against Muslims. At a public event in Agra, Yogi Adityanath warned that fostering division would lead to violence, drawing parallels with the situation in Bangladesh after the downfall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Months later, Prime Minister Modi stressed the importance of unity to thwart the Congress's alleged agenda. Speaking at a public meeting in Dhule, he highlighted the message, "Ek hai toh safe hai" (We are safe as long as we are united). The appeal for unity echoes the well-known slogan, "Batenge toh Katenge." In his address, the Indian Prime Minister warned, “We need to stay united and foil the dangerous game being played by the Congress and continue to walk on the path of development (vikas).”
Isn't it ironic that the BJP's appeal for unity is labeled as 'divisive' by the Islamo-leftist faction, while opposition parties advocating for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma, a caste census, and caste-based wealth redistribution are praised as promoting 'social justice' and a 'progressive' agenda?
“India’s diversity is reduced to a religious binary, with Muslims depicted as a group that poses a threat and needs to be disciplined. The bulldozer enacts this discipline,” the Foreign Policy article reads.
This argument, however, is fundamentally flawed—not because Muslims pose a threat requiring disciplinary measures like bulldozer actions, but because such actions lack any communal motivation. Islamo-leftist propagandists often prioritize the Muslim identity of those affected by demolitions over the fact that these structures were illegal encroachments.
Foreign Policy’s narrative suggests that bulldozers in Modi’s India disproportionately target Muslim-owned properties, insinuating a BJP-led communal vendetta. However, the BJP government has consistently taken similar actions against individuals of all communities involved in illegal activities.
For instance, in May 2022, the residence of Pravesh Shukla—arrested for urinating on a tribal man—was demolished under the BJP government’s law-and-order approach. The administration cited his illegally constructed structure on encroached land in the Kubri region as the reason for the demolition.
Similarly, in February 2024, the Bareilly Development Authority (BDA) carried out a demolition drive targeting illegal colonies in Zulfikar village near Pilibhit Road. These constructions involved both Hindu and Muslim offenders, and the administration removed the encroachments without discrimination.
Encroachment Removal for Infrastructure Development Labeled as 'Anti-Muslim'
Interestingly, the narrative of the “BJP government taking revenge against Muslims” is not a new one. Similar accusations were made by the same Islamo-leftist groups when the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh launched its demolition drive against illegal constructions in the Akbar Nagar area of Lucknow. Several Islamists on social media claimed that the Yogi government was targeting Muslims specifically after the elections. They, along with figures like Teesta Setalvad, argued that only Muslim families in Akbar Nagar were being forced to vacate their homes before the illegal properties were demolished for allegedly voting against the BJP. However, OpIndia reported that not only Muslims but also several Hindu families were affected by the evacuation, and even the Supreme Court had upheld the demolition of illegal encroachments.
The author of the propaganda piece deliberately ignores the fact that these demolitions are carried out under legal orders. While the Supreme Court ruled last year that properties of individuals accused or convicted of riots cannot be demolished solely on those grounds, it did not prevent the government from acting against illegal encroachments and called for a more streamlined process. The "bulldozer action" is not targeted at persecuting any particular community; rather, it is about enforcing the law uniformly and holding those who violate municipal regulations accountable, regardless of their community.
In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the money collected from individuals accused of damaging public property during the anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh should be returned. However, it also clarified that the government can issue new notices to rioters and re-attach their properties under the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Ordinance, 2021. This shows that even the courts do not restrict the government from recovering damages from rioters or demolishing illegal encroachments, as long as due process is followed.
Contrary to claims by Islamo-leftist propagandists and politicians, the bulldozer action is not a symbol of divisive politics, extrajudicial violence, or revenge against the Muslim community. It is a demonstration of the BJP government’s commitment to combat illegal en
croachments and crimes, regardless of the community to which the individuals belong.
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