Sikh Homes in Haryana Bulldozed

On 26 Jun, the Haryana govt. demolished four Sikh homes in village Amupur, district Karnal, Haryana without prior notice. The reason given was that the homes were not built with adequate permission 77 years ago when the family’s ancestors moved to Haryana from west Panjab (Pakistan) during the Partition of India. Haryana officials claim the houses were built on encroached land, despite families living there without issues since Partition. Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) president Bhupinder Singh Assandh said on 10 Jul that the Sikh body will get the houses of Sikh families constructed by the govt. Assandh stated that if the government doesn't build the houses, HSGMC will develop them at its own cost. A delegation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Amritsar visited the site and met the displaced families on 11 Jul. After inspecting the demolished houses and cattle sheds, they expressed their commitment to stand with the families, strongly opposing the demolition. The SGPC announced an initial assistance of $1,200 each to the four families. Bulldozer politics has become a trademark of the BJP govt. A similar demolition of a Gurdwara langar hall (communal kitchen) and some homes had taken place in Moradabad, UP in Jun 2022. In recent years, in various states of India, bulldozers have been repeatedly used against minority communities to cater to majority appeasement. Another such major demolition took place in Aug 2023 in Muslim dominated Nuh district in Haryana, which was celebrated by Hindutva groups in the US.