Varanasi evicts Gandhian social centre for a shopping centre

In Modi's electoral fiefdom, the buildings of the Sarva Seva Sangh were demolished, an informal school that gathered over 100 children closed,  a study centre destroyed and a library with thousands of Mahatma's books left to rot in the rain. The name of the tycoon Adani circulates among the people as the sponsor of the operation. Fr Mathew (Indian Missionary Society): "An unprecedented cruel act on an area given in concession in 1960. They must tell the truth about what they want to build."

Varanasi (AsiaNews) - On Saturday, 22 July, police and the local administration evicted the campus of the Sarva Seva Sangh social organisation, a Gandhian institute in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh that also ran the Kasturba Balvadi school for poor children.

With tight security measures in place, the police took eight people into custody who opposed the action.  More than 100 schoolchildren between the ages of 3 and 12 were thus suddenly faced with a threat to their education.

The 20 employees of the Sangh were also left jobless and homeless by the eviction from the premises where they had been living for decades.

The local government - led by the Hindu nationalists of the BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has the constituency seat in Varanasi where he was elected to the Indian parliament - wants to demolish all the Sangh buildings, claiming that the institute stands on 14 acres of encroached railway land.

An accusation that the organisation denies, claiming that it obtained the land years ago and that it is a manoeuvre by the central government to 'erase every symbol of Gandhi'.

"The (officially registered) school was intended for rag-pickers and the children of boatmen, who were given a non-formal education, which included basics in science, art, music and other disciplines," said Arvind Singh Kushwaha, secretary of the Varanasi unit of the Sangh, which is based in Sewagram, Maharashtra.

The Centre - with which some priests of the Indian Missionaries Society also collaborate - also had a library and promotes its own publication: those who work there also belong to poor families who have found accommodation here.

The police action came after the railways had placed demolition notices on all the Sangh's offices on 27 June, days after the local government had declared the Sangh's property. The Sangh - on the contrary - claims to have documents proving that the land was acquired in 1960 through the efforts of Vinoba Bhave and with the involvement of then president Rajendra Prasad.

It is unclear why the local authorities after decades are intervening now. There is, however, talk of a real estate project to build a large shopping centre on this land, which is located in a valuable area near a marina. The name of Gautam Adani, the controversial tycoon very close to Narendra Modi, is also circulating as a sponsor of the operation.

The Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court refused to intervene and had asked the Sangh to approach the district court, which was supposed to hear the matter on 28 July. But the local government acted before the hearing.

During the eviction, the police arrested eight members of the community including Ram Dhiraj, 70, head of the Sangh's Varanasi unit, who were making a satyagraha, a non-violent protest in front of the gate to prevent the police from entering.

Yesterday, protests were held in Varanasi in solidarity with the Sarva Seva Sangh: more than 100 people marched to the statue of Ambedkar and handed over a memorandum to the local government, demanding that the property be returned to the Sangh and that action be taken against the officials who lied to the court claiming that there was no deed of sale.

From Varanasi, the Catholic priest Fr Anand Mathew, of the Indian Missionaries Society, who has worked with Sarva Seva Sangh for over 30 years, tells AsiaNews: "They are demolishing 22 buildings including the Institute of Gandhian Studies that has been active for 60 years in the study and promotion of the Mahatma's thought. There is also a museum and community facilities. The library is destroyed: 500,000 copies of books on Gandhi's thought are left to rot in the rain. There is no common good behind this eviction: it is only for the greed and luxury of those in power. The government is using the railway department to claim the land, resorting to lies. There is no occupation here,' denounced Fr Mathew.

"This is an unprecedentedly cruel act. The Railways Department must say clearly what it wants these lands back for, on which officially there is no project. There is no public dialogue, only demolition of all buildings and evictions. We demand that the truth be told clearly. The people of Varanasi with the support of people of goodwill will continue to fight against these plans that are only the result of greed. We will fight for peace and justice."

Photo: Matters India