ABP Live Deep Dive: Old Delhi’s Turkman Gate, a neighbourhood whose lanes still carry the scars of one of the darkest chapters of the Emergency, was once again shaken by violence in the early hours of Wednesday after a pre-dawn demolition drive triggered clashes between residents and security forces. The latest confrontation, unfolding near the Faiz-e-Ilahi mosque, has revived painful memories of 1976, when bulldozers first rolled into the area under Sanjay Gandhi’s orders and left hundreds homeless.
Police confirmed that five people were taken into custody after tensions escalated during the overnight operation carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Midnight Drive Sparks Confrontation
According to officials, MCD teams began the demolition around 1 am, targeting what authorities described as unauthorised structures near the mosque. As barricades were placed and heavy machinery moved in, a section of local residents allegedly attempted to push past police lines. Stones were thrown, forcing the police to respond with tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
The confrontation led to minor injuries to four to five police personnel, police said, while several civilians were also reportedly hurt in the melee. Security was eventually reinforced and the area was brought under control, allowing the demolition drive to continue amid heightened deployment.
A Neighbourhood Haunted by History
For Turkman Gate, any demolition drive carries a historical weight that few other localities in Delhi can claim. In April 1976, during the Emergency, the area witnessed a brutal campaign of demolitions that flattened slum clusters and residential structures in the name of “beautification.” The operation followed Sanjay Gandhi’s declaration, “I want Jama Masjid to be clearly visible from Turkman Gate.”
What followed was one of the earliest and most controversial bulldozer actions in independent India. On April 13, 1976, bulldozers moved in, and despite initial assurances, homes were torn down as families watched helplessly. The resistance peaked days later when women and children gathered to stop the machines. Security forces responded with force, and firing followed.
Official records state that 14 rounds were fired, killing six people. However, several accounts dispute this figure. Veteran journalist Kuldeep Nayar, in his book The Judgement, wrote that 150 people were killed in police firing.
From Emergency Excesses to Today’s Unrest
The Shah Commission, which probed Emergency-era excesses, later noted that demolitions in Delhi were often carried out without following legal procedures. Between 1973 and June 1975, about 1,800 structures were demolished in Delhi. From June 1975 to March 1977, that number surged to 1,50,105, displacing an estimated 7,00,000 people.
The latest overnight demolition near the Faiz-e-Ilahi mosque has once again placed Turkman Gate at the centre of a volatile debate over urban redevelopment, legality and human cost. More than three decades after bulldozers first entered its narrow lanes, the area remains deeply sensitive to any such action.
As Old Delhi reels from another episode of violence, the echoes of 1976 serve as a stark reminder that for Turkman Gate, bulldozers do not just reshape land. They reopen old wounds, turning routine civic operations into flashpoints charged with history, memory and mistrust.
