Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar issued a sharp and detailed rebuttal to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's strong condemnation of the Bengaluru demolition drive, unequivocally stating that the Congress government in Karnataka fundamentally opposes any notion of "bulldozer culture" and that the enforcement action was exclusively aimed at reclaiming valuable government land that had been illegally encroached upon, thereby addressing longstanding public health and environmental issues in the affected area.

Vijayan had taken to social media platform X to voice his disapproval of the large-scale demolition of over 200 residential structures in Fakir Colony and Wasim Layout in Kogilu village, carried out from December 20 to 22, 2025, by the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited with substantial police presence, accusing the Karnataka administration of normalizing "bulldozer raj" through fear and brute force while suggesting elements of anti-minority politics, and explicitly comparing the incident to widely criticized actions in several northern Indian states governed by different political parties.

Shivakumar responded by pointing out that Vijayan's comments were made without a thorough grasp of the factual circumstances on the ground, elaborating that the specific site in question had deteriorated into an unauthorized solid waste dumping pit causing severe health risks to surrounding communities, and maintained that the operation was executed with due consideration for humanity, including provisions for residents to voluntarily relocate beforehand, while also highlighting the suspected involvement of organized land mafia in initially establishing such informal settlements to facilitate future encroachments.

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The Deputy Chief Minister directly appealed to Vijayan to desist from making such pronouncements, characterizing them as politically motivated interventions timed ahead of electoral developments in Kerala, and underscored the proactive stance of the Siddaramaiah-led government in supporting the underprivileged through extensive housing initiatives, including readiness to allocate homes under the Rajiv Gandhi scheme to genuinely eligible displaced families, simultaneously rejecting any insinuation of communal targeting in the constituency represented by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.

The controversial demolition has precipitated widespread protests throughout Bengaluru, leaving approximately 400 families—largely comprising migrant laborers who assert possession of valid identification documents such as Aadhaar cards and voter IDs along with claims of residency exceeding two decades—without shelter and forced to endure nights in open spaces, resulting in organized demonstrations near the residences of ministers and broader participation from civil society groups, thereby intensifying the national discourse on balancing urban land reclamation efforts with the protection of rights and rehabilitation needs of vulnerable populations.

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