Kanpur, Nov 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court has parked the bulldozer in the garage forever, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday in a dig at the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over the top court's demolition verdict.
The Uttar Pradesh government, which has been receiving flak from various quarters over its "bulldozer action", also hailed the Supreme Court's verdict while clarifying that it was not involved in the case.
The verdict was part of the case "Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind vs North Delhi Municipal Corporation and others", the state government said while asserting that the apex court's decision would help curb organised crime and instil a fear of legal consequences among criminals.
Addressing an election rally in Kanpur ahead of the November 20 bypolls in the state, Yadav claimed that homes of the poor were being demolished in the name of bulldozer action.
He claimed that the manner in which bulldozers were used in Ayodhya was the reason behind the BJP's defeat in the seat in the Lok Sabha elections.
The date for the bypoll to the Milkipur assembly seat in Ayodhya was not announced by the Election Commission. Bypolls to nine other assembly seats in the state are being held on November 20.
At the rally in support of the Samajwadi Party's Sisamau candidate Nasim Solanki, Yadav said, "The Supreme Court has issued a big order. This will stop the bulldozer action."
Equating "bulldozer justice" with a lawless state of affairs where might is right, the Supreme Court laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior show cause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.
The executive cannot assume judicial powers to punish citizens by demolishing their properties without following due process, the apex court said while terming such excesses "high-handed and arbitrary" and ruling that they needed to be dealt with the "heavy hand of the law".
Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP over the verdict, Yadav said, "With the Supreme Court's decision, the bulldozer has been parked in the garage forever. There can be no bigger comment than what the Supreme Court said."
"I congratulate and thank the Supreme Court," Yadav said, adding that courts had imposed fines on the government for bulldozer actions in a few cases.
The Samajwadi Party chief also targeted the BJP over the protests in Prayagraj by Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) aspirants, saying those who could not provide employment were engaged in harassing students.
"Those who set wrong question papers are none other than BJP people. Those setting the exam date to the people who got the exam cancelled are people of the BJP," Yadav claimed.
He also wondered why the government was unable to give jobs and was only offering excuses.
"The ayog (commission) has become ayogya (useless)," he said.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP government over price rise, Yadav alleged that people had been pushed into a "quagmire of inflation".
He also took on Chief Minister Adityanath over his "batenge toh katenge" comment, terming it "unconstitutional and worst slogan in history" and claimed the BJP leader didn't know about the "PDA" -- an acronym coined by Yadav to denote "picchde (backwards), Dalits and alpsankhyak (minorities)".
Mentioning a study by a foreign university suggesting that those with negative thoughts lived shorter lives, Yadav said, "Negative politics will be defeated by the voice of the PDA. Ours is positive politics."
"The BJP is scared because it is set to lose all nine seats in the bypolls. That is why it got the poll date extended to November 20," he alleged.
He also highlighted the Milkipur seat, saying the chief minister had visited the constituency thrice and launched several projects. Yet, the BJP's internal surveys had revealed that the saffron party would lose, leading to the election's postponement.
Yadav also claimed that the Sisamau bypoll was being held under "special circumstances".
"The (Samajwadi Party) workers here used to tell me that the BJP wanted to hold a bypoll but I did not believe it. MLA Irfan Solanki was implicated in false cases with the intent to declare the seat vacant and forcibly conduct an election," he alleged.
Polling was necessitated in eight seats where by-elections will be held after their representatives were elected to the Lok Sabha. The Sisamau seat fell vacant following the disqualification of Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.