The timing of the demolition drive has raised suspicion about the motive.
Opposition leaders have slammed the BJP following an anti-encroachment drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri which saw communal clashes last week. While Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called it the "demolition of India's constitutional values" and "state-sponsored targeting of poor & minorities", Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha directly accused Home Minister Amit Shah of orchestrating communal riots and asked for his home to be demolished.
"The Home Minister is himself orchestrating these riots. If you want to use the bulldozer, use it to demolish the Home Minister's house. That's how riots will stop," the AAP leader told said in a video posted on his Twitter account. He also claimed that the BJP has in the last eight years resettled "Bangladeshis and Rohingyas" at various places across India which it uses just to orchestrate communal riots. "If you want to know about the location of the next riots, just ask the BJP for a list of where they have relocated Bangladeshis and Rohingyas," he said.
The young MP also accused the BJP of allowing illegal construction in Delhi for bribes as the ruling party has headed the civic bodies in the capital for many years. "The BJP has ruled over the municipal bodies for 15 years where their leaders took bribes and allowed illegal construction. Today when they have gone to demolish these illegal constructions, the houses of those BJP leaders who took bribes to allow them should also be demolished," Mr Chadha added.
Rahul Gandhi posted a picture showing an excavator moving towards a copy of the preamble of the Indian Constitution, calling today's action a demolition of India's constitutional values.
"This is a demolition of India's constitutional values.
This is state-sponsored targeting of poor & minorities.
BJP must bulldoze the hatred in their hearts instead," he said.
When the demolition continued even after a Supreme Court order halting it, Senior CPM leader Brinda Karat rushed to the area with a physical copy of the order and physically blocked the excavator machine from doing further damage. The Mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Raja Iqbal Singh, had said they had yet to receive the order and would continue their job of removing illegal structures until they did.
The Supreme Court has ordered a halt and an urgent hearing tomorrow. While the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said it was a routine drive, the timing has led to suspicion and outrage about the government's intent.
The anti-encroachment exercise was ordered after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the mayor, asking him to identify illegal constructions by "rioters" and demolish them.
"India is left only with 8 days of coal stocks. The fire burning on the streets because of BJP's hateful politics will not light up homes," Congress also said on its official Twitter handle.