‘Awaas Adhikar Jan-Andolan’ (AAJA), a Delhi-based joint platform of Left parties, mass organisations, trade unions and slum residents' organisations, has issued the following statement on August 4, 2026:

A large number of slum residents, working people, representatives of mass organisations and Left political parties gathered today at Jantar Mantar under the banner of the ‘Awaas Adhikar Jan-Andolan’ (Housing Rights People's Movement) to protest against the continuing demolition drives, forced evictions and anti-rehabilitation policies targeting Delhi's slum settlements.

Following the protest, a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister of India, the Union Home Minister, the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the Chief Minister of Delhi was submitted, demanding an immediate halt to all demolitions and forced evictions, and dignified rehabilitation for all affected families.

Addressing the gathering, Amra Ram, Member of Parliament and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that the BJP government, from Delhi to Jaisalmer, is handing over lakhs of acres of land to corporate houses while evicting poor working people from their homes. He said that Jantar Mantar had only a few days ago compelled a Union Minister to resign and warned that if the anti-poor eviction policy was not stopped, the people's movement would intensify further.

Santosh Kumar, Member of Parliament from the Communist Party of India said, "This government is not removing poverty; it is removing the poor. The Modi government and the Rekha Gupta government in Delhi are demolishing the homes of the poor while protecting the interests of big corporates and the powerful."

Raja Ram, Member of Parliament from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) said that the results of the by-elections in Bankipur (Bihar) and Datia (Madhya Pradesh) had sent a clear message that the BJP's political dominance was steadily declining and that its time was coming to an end. He said that people were defeating the BJP's anti-poor policies through both democratic struggles and the electoral process.

Sucheta De, leader of the CPI(ML), said that displacing poor people in the name of development was against the spirit of the Constitution and democracy. She asserted that the government must abandon its bulldozer politics and guarantee the right to housing for every citizen.

Subhashini Ali, former Polit Bureau Member of the CPI(M) and former Member of Parliament, remarked, "Today, the BJP is identified not by the lotus but by the bulldozer. Demolishing the homes of the poor and trampling upon their rights has become the defining symbol of its politics."

The meeting was also addressed by Dharmendra Kumar Verma of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), R. S. Dagar of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Birju of the Communist Ghadar Party of India (CGPI), and Ranjeet Tiwari, leader of the Sonia Vihar Sangharsh Samiti. They condemned the ongoing eviction drives in Delhi as anti-poor and anti-people, and declared that no demolition would be acceptable without prior and dignified rehabilitation of all affected families.

The speakers emphasised that Delhi does not belong only to the rich and real estate developers, but equally to the working people whose labour has built and sustained the city. They asserted that housing is not an act of charity but a constitutional and human right of every citizen.

The memorandum submitted to the government demanded an immediate halt to all demolitions and forced evictions, in-situ rehabilitation or resettlement within five kilometres in accordance with the DUSIB Rehabilitation Policy, 2015, equal rehabilitation rights for families living in Zone-O, a complete ban on evictions from Railway land without prior rehabilitation, restoration of the 82 delisted slum settlements to the DUSIB notified list, and dignified housing for all affected families.

The organisations participating in the protest declared that if the policy of bulldozer demolitions and forced evictions continues, they will further intensify and expand the movement across Delhi.