“It is a targeted, cruel eviction explicitly aimed at terrorising and marginalising our nomadic tribal communities who have protected these lands for over half a century,” Javed Rana said. Photo: Instagram/@javedarana
A major demolition drive against the nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal community, allegedly by the Lieutenant Governor administration in Jammu on Tuesday (May 19, 2026), evoked protests from ruling National Conference (NC) ministers and legislators, with Cabinet minister Javed Rana terming it as “a targeted and cruel eviction aimed at terrorising and marginalising our nomadic tribal”.
Officials said a joint team of the Forest Department, accompanied by a huge posse of the J&K Police, marched towards the Raika Bandi area of Jammu with earth-moving machines. In around four hours of demolition drive, eyewitnesses said 32 structures spread over around three hectares of land close to forests were demolished. Officials said it was an anti-encroachment drive, an allegation contested by the inhabitants.
“We have been living here for decades. Today, they came with machines. I was not even allowed to complete my namaz (prayers). The machines brought down my house within minutes,” a local resident told J&K minister Rana, who toured the area on Tuesday evening (May 19, 2026).
Locals told the Minister that the demolition drive was carried out under the pretext of a campaign against drug smugglers. “How could they (officials) demolish all the houses to punish just a few alleged drug peddlers in the area?” said another local.
The demolition drive evoked sharp reactions and protests from the regional parties in J&K. Cabinet Minister Rana, who holds the portfolio of Forest and Tribal Affairs, said he was “shocked and outraged by the clandestine, unilateral demolition of homes in Sidhra, Jammu, by the L-G administration”.
“Decades of heritage of our innocent Gujjar-Bakarwal families have been reduced to rubble without taking the elected, popular Government or my Ministry into confidence,” Mr. Rana said.
He said this was “not a mere regulatory drive”. “It is a targeted, cruel eviction explicitly aimed at terrorising and marginalising our nomadic tribal communities who have protected these lands for over half a century. We will not stand by as silent spectators to this selective harassment and high-handedness,” Mr. Rana said.
He said those evicted hold voter cards, ration cards and even electricity supply. He said the matter will be taken up with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah “to demand an immediate halt, an institutional inquiry against the responsible officers and officials, and full rehabilitation for the affected families”. “Our people deserve justice, not displacement,” he added.
NC Member of Parliament (MP) Mian Altaf sought “action against those officials involved in the demolition drive”. “These people have been living for more than five decades. They were harassed without reason. No notice was issued to them. The Supreme Court had passed orders that bulldozers should not be used. It has fuelled anger. They are demanding compensation and an apology,” Mr. Altaf said.
J&K Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone said it was “a disturbing development”. “Can the government please, for once, treat the matter with the seriousness that it deserves and explain who ordered the demolitions. If it is not them, then who? And what are they going to do about it? Because I remember that this government enacted a theatre of wailing and crying over demolitions in Jammu,” Mr. Lone said.
People’s Democratic Party leader Aditya Gupta said the demolition drive “again exposed a system that protects the powerful while crushing the poor”. “Influentials continue to be untouched, but small homes on two Marlas of struggling families are bulldozed without mercy,” Mr. Gupta said.
He said, “If big hotels were regularised and crushers were allowed to run on Jammu Development Authority land, why is dignity denied to ordinary citizens?” “The PDP land regularisation Bill was meant to stop exactly this selective injustice. My heart goes out to the children and families rendered homeless by the NC-BJP nexus,” Mr. Gupta said.
Published – May 20, 2026 06:58 am IST
