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CPI(M), SAHMAT left homeless
By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) was today evicted from two premises -- one of which housed the headquarters of Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) -- which had been in its possession at Vithal Bhai Patel House here for the past 32 years.
The action by the Directorate of Estates under the Union Ministry of Urban Development left both CPI(M) and SAHMAT bitter. Both accused the ruling BJP-led alliance at the Centre of a ``vindictive attitude''.
At the end of the day, office-bearers of the Delhi unit of CPI(M) and SAHMAT sat outside the ground floor premises with their belongings lying around in a heap.
It was around 10-30 in the morning that a team of the Directorate led by Eviction Inspector V.S. Chauhan arrived at the premises and ordered the office-bearers of CPI(M) and SAHMAT to vacate. ``We are armed with an eviction warrant. The notice had been served in December and I had personally visited this place to remind them of it at least thrice,'' said Mr Chauhan.
The CPI(M) Central Committee member, Joginder Sharma, said it was ``nothing but political vendetta''. The rules pertaining to allotment of premises to political parties ``have been revised in such a way that they are detrimental to parties like CPI(M),'' he charged.
Even then, he said, the party had made a representation that it be allowed to retain the premises. When the request was turned down, its MP from Kerala, S. Ramachandran Pillai, had petitioned that the premises be allotted in his name in lieu of the MP accommodation to which he was entitled. ``However, before replying to the application, the Directorate of Estates decided to evict us. This, when it was not a matter of illegal occupation but of a technicality and paper work,'' lamented the CPI(M) spokesperson, Sitaram Yechury.
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