A Lingua Franca is Shaped by the People, Not by Government Dictates

BARBED WORDS

- Pushpesh Pant Former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Demolitions are in overdrive once again. At the height of the furnace-like heat wave, the 'Madrasi Colony'-a cluster of jhuggi jhoprhi, a mini-slum near Baramulla in the Capital-was razed to rubble. Unauthorised constructions extensions in Batala House in the vicinity of Jamia Millia House fared no better. Operation Clean-up wasn't confined to Delhi. Food lovers were stunned to learn that Chachi's legendary kachori-jalebi outlet just outside the BHU's Lanka Gate and Pahalwan's equally famous and not-very-much-younger lassi stall, a short distance away, had met the same fate. There was no news about the iconic Keshav Tambul Bhandar that attracted Banarasi paan addicts like a strong magnet. All these, unauthorised constructions on public land had evolved over many decades as tourist traps much before the advent of social media, thanks to the words of mouth echoing across generations.

Evicting squatters has been an almost continuous process in BJP-ruled states-Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand-for quite some time. Large swathes of land have been reclaimed and the ugly blemishes on the face of beautiful cities-holy and historic-removed.