"Demolition Of Constitution, Rule Of Law, Court order," Says Brinda Karat

The CPM's Brinda Karat -- who was seen physically blocking a bulldozer in Delhi's Jahangirpuri today, waving a court order to stop demolition in the violence-torn area -- told NDTV that the civic body's insistence to continue the razing was "demolition of the Constitution, the rule of law and even the Supreme Court order".  

Ms Karat had physically carried the Supreme Court order to the officials who had continued the demolition, insisting that they had not received the order.

The bulldozers continued to run for a fraught two hours after a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana offered a temporary reprieve to the people, saying action should be stopped till tomorrow when it will hear the case again.  

But by the time the demolition was stopped, several shops and the gates and the wall of a mosque which was at the centre of the controversy during Saturday's Hanuman Jayanti rally, were razed.

"The CJI (Chief Justice of India) had given an order to maintain the status quo early in the morning. I reached Jahangirpuri around quarter to 12 and the bulldozers were moving. The residents weren't given any time to move their belongings," Ms Karat told NDTV in an exclusive interview today. "The demolition was totally illegal and motivated, it was not to uphold the law but for a political, sectarian agenda," she added.

"I know Jahangirpuri from when I was a trade union leader… There hasn't been any single communal incident. Poor people, lower middle-class people, they run their shops outside their homes, they were all demolished. They weren't not even given notice," Ms Karat said.

Asked about the absence of other opposition leaders at the spot and what it spells for opposition unity, Ms Karat said, "I went, my comrades went. As for others, I don't have anything to say. Whatever we can do to save the rights of people, we will".