UP Elections: In Proposed Beautification of Ayodhya, Small Traders Find No Place

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh): "Aap humko ukhadenge, aur hum aapko vote denge (you will uproot us, and we will vote for you)," asked Abhay Kumar to the government in Uttar Pradesh. Kumar, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, owns a shop, selling offerings for deities in a lane leading to the Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya Dham (old Ayodhya town).

Kumar is among the shopowners whose business establishments will either be partially or wholly demolished with the proposed road widening project of Ayodhya's master plan prepared by the Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA).

Traders of Ayodhya have registered their opposition to the project with the ADA, alleging that the proposed layout will result in largescale demolition of shops and other commercial establishments. Several stretches in the city have been earmarked for the road widening project in the master plan.

Following years of legal battle, on November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the disputed 2.77 acres of land, where Babri Masjid once stood, to be handed over to a trust (Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas) to build a Ram Mandir. After the verdict, the construction of the proposed grand temple, and the development and beautification of the town has been in progress.

Nitin Kumar, who owns a cloth shop in the same lane, said he had no grudge against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He only wanted rehabilitation and proper compensation for the losses they would bear.

"Assurances after assurance are being given, but nothing is happening on the ground. The authorities keep saying that commercial complexes are being constructed to accommodate us, but all these claims are fake," he said, venting his anger.

Nitin will lose eight feet of his shop in the proposed demolition drive under the Master Plan. As a result, he will be left with a length of only 10 feet of land that houses his residence as well as his shop. In the name of compensation, he is apparently being offered Rs 70,000, which is "insufficient to erect even a pillar".

"Earlier, it was agreed that the compensation would be divided between the owner of the structures and the tenants in the ratio of 60:40. Now, 90% of the fund is going to the landlord and the owner of the structures. The rest is being given to the shopkeepers who have been running their shops for decades as tenants," he said.

The land on which the shops and the residences stand belongs to Hanuman Garhi and other temple trusts. When the land ceiling began under the Zamindari Abolition Act, 1950, as part of land reforms, the landlords, generally mahants or seers, got their trust registered in the name of the temples they run.

All the land was donated to the trust to avoid taking over by the government. The trust then leased out the land to locals who constructed smaller commercial establishments and gave them on rent to shopkeepers. These arrangements did not happen in the recent past, but decades ago.

Now, when the demolition was proposed, the trust and those who had got the shops constructed staked compensation claims. Therefore, the fund is now going to the three, with the shopkeepers getting the least amount to a maximum of Rs 1.25 lakh.

"We are not getting muawza (compensation), but an anudaan (grant)," he explained, adding that he belonged to the third generation of beneficiaries of the shop. "My grandfather set up the shop, my father kept running it, and now I am carrying the legacy forward. I have no other sources of earning," he added.

"Why the grant, why not proper compensation?" -- is a question that is being widely asked. Abhay, a native of the holy town who too has a shop in the lane, explained that when Ayodhya emerged as a pilgrimage site, the locals took the shops on rent. The majority of the property here is nazool land (non-agricultural land to be used for people's welfare), with the temple trust having its milkiyat (title).

"The shopkeepers took the structures on rent from the local landlords by paying a good advance to the tune of up to Rs 5 lakh decades back. The problem with the shopowners is that they don't have any paper to show their ownership of the land, which houses the shops, except their possession for three-four generations. Even if the government announces compensation, how will they claim it without papers to prove their legal ownership? Secondly, if the government gives compensation to the shopkeepers, it means it is acknowledging the shopkeepers' legal rights over the land. It will lead to lawsuits," he said.

Gaya Prasad, who has been running a shop of offerings for the past 25 years, also wants compensation and rehabilitation before the proposed demolition is carried out. "Dukan todne se pahle humlogon ka punarwas hona chahiye taki rozi roti chalti rahe (We should be rehabilitated before the demolition of the shops so that our livelihood can continue)," he demanded.

Abhay Kumar Pandey believes that the emotional value of these shops owned by several generations of families is much higher than any amount of money and cannot be compensated. But he said the government and the administration should ensure that the traders also benefit from the development of Ayodhya and get a respectable compensation to start their business fresh.

"We also contributed to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and karseva (voluntary labour). Now, the BJP wants to snatch away the livelihood of Ram bhakts (devotees) and also seeks votes in the name of Ram. Why will we vote for the party?" he asked.

DEVELOPMENT AT COST OF LIVELIHOOD

The traders said they are not opposing the government's development projects as it will attract tourism, further boosting their business. But at the same time, they added that the development activities should not be carried out at the cost of their livelihood.

Manoj Jaiswal has had a shop in the lane for 20 years. He will, too, lose 11 feet of his 18-feet long shop. "I am offering my entire shop for demolition, but the government must allot an alternate place so that I can keep sustaining my family of five," he said.

Contrary to the idea of the proposed development of Ayodhya, several traders see a "larger plan at play". "The BJP government wants to evict us and hand over the land in Ayodhya to big industrialists, who will construct malls where small traders can never take even a small shop for rent. So, in the name of development and beautification of the town, the government has a larger plan at play," they said.

A manufacturer of agarbatti (incense sticks), Pawan Tiwari, sarcastically said, "Ayodhya ko swarg banaya jayega aur Ayodhyawasi ko swargwasi (Ayodhya will be made into heaven and its residents will be sent to heaven)."

Amid the disillusionment and resentment, some are ready to give up their shops in the name of Lord Ram'. "Barson se itna jhela hai, aur bhi jhel lenge (we have already suffered a lot for years, we will further bear the sufferings)," said Raju Sahu, who sales bindi, sindur, and other cosmetic items in the lane.

He will lose 10 feet of his 25 feet long shop, where he also resides along with his family, in the proposed road widening project. "Dukan aur makan ek hi hai. Itni haisiyat hai nahin ki kahin dusri jagah zamin le saken (the shop and the house are the same. We cannot purchase land somewhere else)," he added.

A POLL FACTOR?

With the resentment growing against the proposed demolition drive, the Opposition is trying its best to capitalise on the issue. Among them is Samajwadi Party's Nand Kumar Gupta, head of Ayodhya's Industry and Business Trust. He is mobilising voters against BJP candidate Vivek Prakash Gupta.

"Many traders, especially smaller ones, are getting disillusioned with the BJP because this is a direct attack on their livelihoods," he said.

He said that even on the inauguration day of the Ram Temple (Bhoomi Pujan) on August 5, 2020, small shopkeepers were removed from the streets to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Where is their place in this new, mall-like Ayodhya that the BJP wants to build?" he asked.

He said the so-called proposed development would prove to be the last nail in the BJP's coffin.

There are other traders' bodies that oppose the proposed demolition but are hopeful that the government will listen to them.

But Achal Kumar Gupta, who has owned an eatery shop for the past three generations, said the Opposition was "misguiding" traders just for "political gains". "We have been actively pursuing the issue and engaging with the administration," he said, adding that his traders' union has registered "strong protest" with the government against the aerial survey carried out before preparing the master plan.

"We met the chief minister and apprised him of the impact the demolition will have on traders livelihood. We also urged him to shift the development project to New Ayodhya from Old Ayodhya. We have been assured by him that we would get a respectable sum as compensation for the construction of the shops. And we are hopeful that the government will stand by its words," he hoped.

He said the road is proposed to be widened by 24 metres (12 metres each from both sides). "We have appealed to reduce it to 18 metres (nine metres each on both sides of the road)," he said.

If the government fails to walk the talk, he said, the traders would stage a massive protest as the demolition would take away the livelihood of hundreds of traders in the area. "The government has assured us that a survey will be conducted; gain and compensation will be given by December," he said.

Thousands of traders have lodged their objections to the proposed Maha Yojna as sought by the government, but none of them has so far received acknowledgement of the receipt of their objection letters from the government.

He admitted there was a huge resentment against the proposed project that could cause a dent in the BJP's support base in the holy town. "We are meeting with our MLA and MP as well and actively pursuing the matter with the district administration," he added.

Ayodhya is going to the polls on February 27 in phase five of the ongoing seven-phase UP Assembly elections. There appears to be a razor-sharp contest between Tej Narayan Pandey alias Pawan Pandey of the Samajwadi Party and Ved Prakash Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Gupta had defeated Pandey with a margin of 50,440 votes in the 2017 Assembly elections in the state.

Political observers here suggest that the victory and defeat of both candidates depend on the number of votes the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate get since the seat has a seizable population of Dalit voters.

"If the Dalits wholeheartedly continued their support to the BSP, it will benefit the SP. And if their votes shifted to the BJP, the victory of the saffron party is certain," they said.

DEMOLITION IS CERTAIN

Ayodhya Municipal Commissioner Vishal Singh, also vice-chairman of the Ayodhya Development Authority, said the beautification project was necessary as the world would visit Ram Temple and there needed to be better crowd management.

"Beautification projects always cause some inconvenience, but it is in the larger interest of traders and people at large. Therefore, it is certain and will be carried out. A survey has been conducted to identify the number of shops which will be affected," he told NewsClick.

"We will take people into confidence and reach a consensus. A guideline has been prepared and a formula has been set to compensate the affected people," he said, elaborating that compensation would be given according to circle rates to the landowners, and the shopkeepers who were on rent would be compensated for the inconvenience.

"They will also be rehabilitated to new market complexes, which are being developed across six locations in the town," he added.