It was Indira Gandhi who first ordered the use of bulldozers on minorities at Turkman Gate: Amit Malviya

*Paromita Das

The BJP and Congress are at odds once more, this time over the use of ‘bulldozers.’

While the grand old party claimed that the Nazis used bulldozers extensively against Jews, the saffron party countered that it was Indira Gandhi who first ordered the use of bulldozers on minorities at Turkman Gate.

Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari shared an article he wrote on Twitter about bulldozers, which he described as the “bludgeon of choice” for destroying people’s homes and livelihoods in areas hit by communal strife in New Delhi and other parts of the country.”

In the opinion piece, the Congress leader claimed that Adolf Hitler used bulldozers to “flatten Jewish neighbourhoods that were quickly levelled in record time” in 1933.

“Ironically, history always comes full circle.”

“The bulldozer has also become Israel’s preferred weapon for demolishing Palestinian homes,” he added.
In a series of tweets, Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s National Information & Technology Department, retweeted the Congress leader, asking, “Does everyone in the Congress party, from Manish Tewari to Rahul Gandhi, suffer from amnesia or are they simply ill informed about their own past?”

“Forget the Nazis and Jews; it was Indira Gandhi in India who first ordered the use of bulldozers against minorities at Turkman Gate…”

“During the Emergency in April 1976, Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi’s son, forced Muslim men and women to undergo forced sterilisation.” Bulldozers were rolled into Turkman Gate after they protested. Twenty people were killed.
“The romanticism of Congress with the Nazis should end with Indira Gandhi,” he said.

Previously, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) conducted an anti-encroachment drive in the Jahangirpuri area just four days after communal violence in the area drew widespread criticism. The Supreme Court stepped in and ordered the NDMC to maintain the status quo.