Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Sanjeev Jaiswal, threatened a man during a public meeting, calling him 'Ghuskhor' for showing a protest placard against the redevelopment project proposed by Adani in Motilal Nagar.
CEO Sanjeev Jaiswal insist the man show his identity card of a man who was attending a meeting and his reference to the man as a ‘ghuskhor’ (bribe-taker). The video of the MAHDA CEO went viral, leading to several reactions from politicians.
BJP-led Mahayuti government has said that Jaiswal must apologise before the people of Motilal Nagar for his remarks. The Congress alleged that now the bureaucrats are carrying the government's comments against a section of society, referring to the BJP's alleged use of the infiltrator tag to target Muslims in poll-bound states such as West Bengal.
The MHADA CEO, who is from West Bengal, made comments during a public meeting at the Ganesh ground in Motilal Nagar 1 on April 17. The meeting has been called for 3,702 eligible tenants to show the master plan for the redevelopment of Motilal Nagar.
As soon as Jaiswal was in the meeting said that the residents would get 1,600 square feet RERA carpet area homes instead of homes with 1,600 square built-up area, as planned earlier, the audience erupted in protest, saying they wanted 2,4000 square feet homes.
Many audience members held up placards saying no to 1,600 square feet homes. Others also stood up from their seats in protest, in a bid to speak out loud about their demands, making Jaiswal lose his calm on at least two occasions.
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“This is not the way. You don’t represent everyone. Are you representing 3,000 people? If you say yes, I will move away from here,” the MHADA CEO said on one occasion.
On another occasion, when one of the attendees stood up to speak, Jaiswal reprimanded him, saying he had not been brought up well in his childhood or taught discipline. He also threatened to cancel the tender for the redevelopment project and initiate a survey the very next day, though he did not clarify about the survey.
Later, CEO Jaiswal threatened another Motilal Nagar tenant, who was standing up with placard saying not to 16,00 square feet rehabilitation homes. “Whatever you want to say, say it in Marathi,” Jaiswal told the man in beard. The man replied that he wouldn't be able to speak in Marathi by nodding his head. Jaiswal asked, “Do you really don’t know Marathi?”
Then CEO Jaiswal said, "Don't try to make me explore here whether your 'ghuskhor' or what." He asked police personnel to get his identity document. Then he angrily asked the man to give his identity card. He further stated, "give your document i will find out where you came from, and which year you came in? Whether you were born here or not. Let me find out all of that. If you turn out to be a ghuskhor, I will pick you up from here itself.”
“I am a law abiding citizen and all I did was show a placard saying we need at least 2,400-sqft homes,” the man who was targeted spoke to Hindustan Times.
Congress Mumbai Chief and MP Varsha Gaikwad reacted to MHADA CEO Sanjeev Jaiswal's viral video for allegedly threatening Motilal Nagar residents who were protesting against the redevelopment project.
"Surrender Sarkar forcing citizens to surrender democratic rights! Clear proof that Maharashtra's bureaucracy works for Adani. This is the Mhada CEO Sanjeev Jaiswal threatening a resident of Motilal Nagar who was present with placards protesting the takeover of their land by Adani. It seems that once the project goes to Adani, citizens lose all democratic rights and can't protest! The surrender sarkar wants residents also to just surrender to Adani and has deployed bureaucrats to threaten citizens. Do citizens have no rights if the PM's friend comes into the picture? What autocracy is this?" Gaikwad said in a post on X.