#dnaEdit: No more displacement

The narrative of human displacement is marked by paradoxes. The responses to acts of dispossession hinge on the classes of people who are hurt and have their lives irrevocably changed by these actions. Nothing brings out the paradoxes along the axes of class and social influence more sharply than the two recent decisions: one, the eviction of the residents of the allegedly illegal flats in Mumbai’s Campa Cola Compound; and two, the raising of the height of the Narmada dams projected to displace 2.5 lakh people.

The outcry against the eviction of the occupants of Campa Cola emanating from all quarters has been high on the decibel front. Arguably, such outrage is justified on the grounds that the occupants of the controversial building were not in the know of the illegalities that landed them in the present mess. The blame, the residents have maintained, lies squarely at the door of the builders and government authorities. The media has turned its full attention on the agitating residents who are pleading and venting their ire.

The list of prominent members of the ‘Save Campa Cola’ campaign, ratcheting up high visibility for the cause against eviction, mostly includes well-heeled owners of the flats. They are visible social faces, run highly successful businesses, occupy important positions in private firms. For instance, Nandini Mehta, a key member of the Campa Cola committee, is the founder of a tea brewery business. Her husband Ajay Mehta, the joint managing director of a family-owned steel company based in Worli, is also involved in import, supply and manufacture of boiler quality steel plates. The company’s clients include Gulf Oil Corporation, the Aditya Birla group and Godrej. The Mehtas own two flats on the 10th floor of Midtown.

Dwelling on the economic status of the displaced middle-class occupants is important in bringing out the class paradox of dispossession. Contrast this socio-economic background of the Campa Cola residents with people facing dispossession by the Narendra Modi-led government’s move to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam. The decision was announced just days ahead of the Supreme Court rejecting a petition by the Campa Cola residents against the earlier eviction order. Unlike the Campa Cola residents, people in the villages around Sardar Sarovar who face displacement, have no lobbying powers or resources to draw the attention of either policymakers at the helm of affairs or the national media.

Left with no option, these protesters have often resorted to novel methods to draw the attention of media and those at the helm of affairs in Delhi, to their plight. Recall the disquieting images in 2012: over 200 villagers, 100 of them women in Madhya Pradesh who submerged themselves neck-deep in water to protest the government’s decision to raise the level of local dams. It took media almost a week to bring those startling images to us.

The eviction of innocent people from homes and familiar spaces is unfair. Unfortunately though, this has been a common practice of the Indian State since the early days of post-Independence. According to a United Nations report on Human Rights in India, between 60 and 65 million people are estimated to have been displaced due to development projects in India since Independence. If evicted tribals and poor slum dwellers had the socio-economic clout of the Campa Cola residents, this gigantic human tragedy would have found a more prominent place in the national narrative.