The latest twist in the ongoing tussle between saffron-clad Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his rivals within the BJP involves a controversy over his government’s attempt to regulate approximately 75,000 acres of land. This land, worth an estimated two lakh crore rupees, has been leased out to various individuals and institutions across the state.
Known as Nazul land, these properties were seized by the British Raj from wealthy landowners who were suspected of participating in activities against the Crown, particularly during the Sepoy Mutiny and its troubled aftermath. With India’s independence, they passed on by default to the state administration who leased them out at nominal rates permanently renewable to the occupants.
So far, no other state has sought to disturb the status quo on Nazul land, either in rural or urban areas. Characteristically unconventional, Yogi chose to revive the findings of a three-decade-old report on Nazul property by the NN Vohra Commission under the Narasimha Rao government.
The report exposed a nexus in urban areas between politicians, bureaucrats and land mafias that were engaged in the business of forcibly occupying Nazul land and buildings, evicting existing residents and tenants, and buying and selling such properties at vast profit.