Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited Shakur Basti in west Delhi where hundreds of homes were demolished on Saturday (Press Trust of India photo)
The demolition of some 1,000 homes in a slum in west Delhi on Saturday, in which a
six-month-old baby died,
touched off a political storm today with the city's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) targeting the Centre and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacking both.
The High Court has asked the railways, Centre and Delhi to explain after thousands of people were left homeless in the cold by the demolition at the Shakur Basti area by the railway police, allegedly for construction work.
"You really don't care about people, you just want to remove them. What was the tearing hurry to demolish the cluster in December?" the court asked the railways. The court has asked all senior officials of departments concerned to be present at the next hearing on Wednesday.
Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi made a high profile visit to the razed slum and assured residents: "
Whenever a slum is about to be destroyed here, call Rahul Gandhi, he won't let this happen."
The Congress leader made it clear that he believed AAP, which governs Delhi, also had a role, though Arvind Kejriwal's party has blamed the railway police, which reports to the Centre.
"Why are they (AAP) protesting? They are in power," Mr Gandhi said on AAP protests at Parliament.
Chief Minister Kejriwal retorted in a tweet that "
Rahul Gandhi is still a kid. His party has probably not informed him that railways comes under the central government and not under the Delhi government."
Hundreds of homes in a slum cluster in west Delhi were razed on Saturday by the railway police allegedly to make way for a terminal (Press Trust of India photo)
Those who lost their homes have put up makeshift shelters of plastic and tarpaulin.
A six-month-old baby, Rukaiya, allegedly died in the chaos when her family was trying to pack up their belongings and run out.
"There was a lot of confusion. My baby was sleeping. We packed our clothes in bundles and went into the other room. The baby died when a bundle fell on her," said her father Mohammad Anwar,
who has two more children, a daughter, 5, and son, 3.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Parliament that the
child had died much before the demolition started, and that the residents had been given repeated warnings.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu admitted that "the demolition should not have happened in winter. I have conveyed this to the railway minister."