“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”-Benjamin Franklin
**
It is 10 am and near Bangalore’s Austin Town Circle, a crowd is slowly gathering around the Ambedkar statue. Young students from St Joseph’s college, volunteers from NGOs, nuns, workers of assorted political parties, some displaced women from EWS Quarters Ejipura..bulldozed some time back to make way for a mall, are coming together in small knots. There is supposed to be a rally today to show some solidarity to the victims whose homes and lives were destroyed within hours under the benign gaze of the police and law.
**
Pamphlets distributed by the Forum against EWS Land Grab contextualise this protest, “Since January 18, 2013. more than 5000 urban poor have been violently and mercilessly evicted and displaced from their homes in EWS Quarters, Ejipura. Houses were demolished, toilets were destroyed, water supply and power lines cut off. 1512 families were out on the streets in the cold..they are unable to go to work. Children have not been able to study for their upcoming exams..families cannot afford exorbitant advance deposits for homes elsewhere. Families have dispersed and their lives have been disrupted. Some have moved to Sarjapur and other areas of Bangalore and many have lost their jobs and children cannot continue to go to school. Over 120 families are still at the peripheries of the EWS Quarters without a roof on their heads. this brutal act is the violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution. It is a violation of article 21, the Right to Life, the violation of the right to shelter and education.”
**
The pamphlets also question how land earmarked for Economically Weak Sections (EWS) is being used for the purpose pf private profit? Why the residents were not relocated before being displaced? And should we stay silent when public land is gifted away to builders?
**
Meanwhile, slogans and songs and drum beats and a few assorted political flags fill up the breeze. Just a day before, rains have lashed the homeless and drenched their few belongings. A woman smiles at me and asks, “Aaap kidhar se ho? Aap jaise bacchon ne hamari bahut madad ki..college se roz aaye..main dua deti hoon sab ko.” I tell her I am not one of the volunteers but a scribe and her story unfolds. She is Shazia (name changed) and she has lived for two decades on the fringes of Bangalore’s urban consciousness. When she first arrived at Ejipura many years ago, there was no electricity or water. Her life came together brick by brick, though the Rs 200 or 300 (on thirsty summer days) that her husband got by selling sugarcane juice was never enough. Then she says, they learnt, “zameen mall walon ko bech diya.” The land earmarked for the poor was sold off to an influential builder and there was a court case, she says though the details are hazy in her head. “Some money was supposed to be sanctioned to us,” she says, distracted by the commotion around. Just then two Hoysala vans zoom into the view. Perhaps to make sure the protesters do not break any laws. Some yellow barricades are put up on one side of the road and more police men gather on foot on the other side.
**
I ask Shazia what she expects if anything from all of this. She tears up, “Mujhe koi aas nahin hai. Mujhe paisa bhi nahin chahiye..hum mehnat se guzara karenge par humko ghar hona!” (I have no hope. We need no money..we will earn it with hard work but I need a home!) Her husband cannot work anymore because of a hand injury and she raises her two kids while operating the sugar cane crusher.
**
She also tells me, the residents of Ejipura had pleaded for more time to relocate as the children needed to appear for their exams in April but the bulldozers came one weekend (when stay orders could not be procured) and within hours, it was all gone. Her home, many of her belongings.Some of her ornaments. Now, they have to pay money to corporation loos when they need to bath as the bathrooms at Ejipura are in debris. “We were told..this is kanoon, ” she says, ” and adds, “doesn’t the judge know what such a judgement can mean? That people are living on the streets?”
**
Another resident Mary is on the streets too with her husband and two kids. Around some of these stories hover young boys and girls holding banners, placards and the Indian flag along with their snazzy phones but the back thumping levity cannot hide the commitment. They are here on a weekend. Not in a mall, not in a multiplex. Nitin, a journalism student informs me that young people from many colleges are tuned into the issue and want to contribute in some way.
**
Navya (name changed) is a PR professional and shares, “It was heart rending to see so many families, especially kids and old people, sitting on the pavement with just a make-shift roof made of bedsheets and plastic sheets and their belongings scattered around. Most of them were clueless about why the eviction happened with such brutality and at such short notice. Apparently, most of them were given just under two hours notice to get out of the place and the entire area was bulldozed irrespective of whether people were able to take out their belongings or not. Many were suffering from all kinds of ailments and the aged were finding it extremely difficult to bear the cold weather at night. As most of the people had stacked up whatever they could gather of their belongings, there were families who were not able to send their children to school because they couldn’t find their uniforms and the schools were refusing to admit them without the uniforms. I came across a family with a two-day-old baby who was on the streets and one of the neighbouring houses had given the mother the permission to sleep inside but only for the night. Absolutely no support or any confirmed promises are being offered to these homeless people. Even basic necessities like food, water, toilet are not met and they are being helped by a bunch of volunteers who are working day in and day out by approaching corporates and like-minded individuals.”
**
Anu, an articulate, young volunteer from an NGO called Headstreams, Bangalore (https://sites.google.com/a/headstreams.org/headstreams/) is here too and she has been at the Ejipura wasteland almost every day since the demolitions to help the victims and the amount of pain she has seen has visibly affected her, “There was a woman whose leg was broken during the demolitions but no one helped her. There are mentally challenged people and handicapped people and children who have nowhere to go. Many families forced to relocate.. now want to come back.”
**
There is a tinge of exhausted hope in her voice as she says, “This has happened before when the first Garuda Mall came up, People protested against the displacement of the poor then but nothing happened. What we need is to fight such issues legally. Also at such rallies, we do not get to hear the voices of the victims.” She smiles, “Isn’t it strange that to fix one drain BBMP may take weeks but they cleared up acres of land within days? The bulldozers came to clear the land on a Friday and by Tuesday, a boundary wall had been put up to keep residents away!”
**
She is amused to see the police too. “When people were on the streets in the cold at night..where were these men? Are they not protecting the wrong people?” By this time, the crowd has swelled, multiple political parties are waving flags but we are not marching still towards Ejipura. Facebook updates tell us that some volunteers have been rounded up at Ejipura and have been intimidated. Anu decides to investigate and I join her. We reach Ejipura in an auto and the sight we see, shocks us witless. The police presence is beyond all belief. Entering Ejipura grounds seems impossible so we watch the muscle flexing of the law. Vans, barricades, uniforms..protecting evacuated land from some peaceful protesters!
**
There are some families on the pavements around us. One woman waves at Anu. Wet beddings and some household things are piled up on another pavement. There are cement pipes where perhaps some residents take shelter at night. We take out our phones to click some pictures of the police bandobast and three men in plain clothes charge towards us. They do not talk to me but take on Anu. Does she know Kannada? She must not provoke some retaliatory action by clicking pictures! She must leave! Anu talks back gently and they threaten her once more and leave. “They are trying to provoke..” she says to me and adds, “Look at those police women..they may just come over too.” I ask her what she wants to do. She decides to leave. I cannot resist a good bye wave at the men. “Thank you, we live in a great democracy,” I shout. They look at me without a reaction. Maybe democracy is a word they have not heard before.
Update via Relief for EWS Ejipura Demolition Victims : Police has detained some protesters who gathered at the Ejipura EWS site. Today the march from Austin Town to EWS site, supported by 25 organisations. was yet to reach the EWS site when the police reached the site beforehand, and detained a few people who had gathered there already. Apparently, the builders have got a court order to restrain people from gathering near the site, and the detention could be based on this. EWS residents on the footpath have been asked to move out or court arrest.
**
Reema Moudgil has been writing on art, theatre, cinema, music, gender issues, architecture and more in leading newspapers and magazines since 1994. Her first novel Perfect Eight ((http://www.flipkart.com/perfect-eight-9380032870/p/itmdf87fpkhszfkb?pid=9789380032870&_l=A0vO9n9FWsBsMJKAKw47rw–&_r=dyRavyz2qKxOF7Yuc )won her an award from the Public Relations Council of India in association with Bangalore University. She also edited Chicken Soup for Indian Woman’s Soul and runs unboxedwriters.com. She has exhibited her paintings in Bangalore and New York, taught media studies to post graduates and hosts a daily ghazal show Andaz-e-Bayan on Radio Falak (WorldSpace).