Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivkumar spar over Bengaluru bulldozer demolition drive
Thiruvananthapuram: A war of words has erupted between Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after the latter sharply criticized the Karnataka government for a recent demolition drive in parts of Bengaluru.
Speaking to the media in Bengaluru on Saturday, Shivakumar called Vijayan’s comments “unfortunate” and politically misleading, urging senior leaders to avoid making sweeping accusations without understanding the ground reality in another state. He clarified that the demolition of structures in Fakir Colony and Waseem Layout was not targeted eviction but a necessary administrative move to reclaim encroached public land.
According to him, the land in question had been a waste dumping site illegally occupied and systematically turned into a slum by the land mafia. Shivakumar rejected allegations of “bulldozer justice,” stating that the Karnataka government was acting within the law and with sensitivity. “We are not into bulldozers. We are safeguarding public land and public property,” he said, adding that the residents were given ample time and options to relocate.
His statement was in response to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Facebook post, in which he strongly criticized the Congress-led Karnataka government's bulldozer justice. Vijayan alleged that Muslim families who had lived in the area for years were forcibly evicted and described the demolitions as “extremely shocking and painful.”
Pinarayi accused the Karnataka government of adopting the “North Indian bulldozer justice model” and questioned how a Congress-led administration could justify demolitions instead of ensuring housing for the urban poor.
He said the action reflected the “anti-minority aggressive politics” of the government.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) MP A. A. Rahim visited the demolition site with Karnataka State Secretary Basavaraj Poojjar, DYFI leader A. R. Naresh Babu, and other leaders. They criticized the inhuman actions of the Karnataka government and spoke to the families whose houses were demolished.
