Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Wednesday criticised the Delhi government, raising concern over the slum demolitions in the Capital during the Zero Hour of the Lok Sabha. This comes days after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, visited areas where demolitions had taken place.

Alleging that thousands of families were rendered homeless by the demolition of slums, he said it was being done in violation of existing policies of rehabilitation.

“Before elections, the ruling party [BJP] spent nights in the same slums, and they made assurances ‘jahan jhuggi, wahan makaan (A home where the slum stands), but now after the elections, it has become ‘jahan jhuggi, wahan bulldozer (A bulldozer where the slum stands)’. This is not governance, it is abandonment. It is time for this House to take notice, because how we treat the poorest amongst us is not a side issue, but it is the very soul of our Constitution,” Mr. Tagore said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav on Wednesday said that after Mr. Gandhi visited the demolished slum areas of the Capital, the Congress moved two adjournment motions in Parliament.

“Although BJP allowed the adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha today, nobody from the government gave a reply on the JJ Cluster demolition issue raised by LoP Rahul Gandhi, which raises the question of why BJP allowed the said adjournment motion when it did not want to answer the issues raised by Mr. Gandhi,” he said.

Mr. Yadav said that all seven BJP Lok Sabha MPs from the Capital seemed to be unconcerned about the plight of the slum dwellers, or else, they would have spoken in favour of the slum dwellers in the House. “The BJP government has destroyed more than 3000 slum clusters in its five months in power by breaking the promise of providing 3.5 lakh in-situ flats with all the basic civic services and ownership rights to the poor,” Mr. Yadav said.

He added that the Delhi Congress will launch a campaign to get justice for the slum dwellers in every respect, including alternate accommodation for the displaced, who have played a major role in the development of Delhi.

On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta assured that her government will ensure proper rehabilitation of “eligible” slum dwellers displaced due to development projects.