How the Bulldozer Became a Symbol of Modi’s India

“Bulldozer justice” first gained prominence in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, a saffron-clad Hindu monk and the state’s chief minister. Since 2020, state officials under Adityanath, a member of the BJP, have regularly ordered the use of bulldozers to demolish the properties of individuals, mostly Muslims, accused of involvement in criminal activity or protests against the government. Adityanath, who is known for making inflammatory and provocative remarks against Indian Muslims, hailed the bulldozer as a tool of justice that led him to earn the sobriquet “Bulldozer Baba,” or bulldozer monk.

The extrajudicial use of bulldozers as weapons against Muslim homes, businesses, and places of worship in the name of allegedly dispensing justice was later replicated by states such as Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan—all ruled by the BJP. Modi himself endorsed Adityanath’s bulldozer politics during a speech last May in Uttar Pradesh. In February 2024, Amnesty International released a report on “bulldozer injustice,” expressing concern over the increasing number of politically motivated punitive demolitions “instigated by senior political leaders and government officials,” which had impacted at least 617 people, largely Muslims.

And despite setbacks experienced by the BJP in last year’s general elections, bulldozer justice is still being enacted against Muslims. In June, 11 houses belonging to Muslims were demolished in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district after authorities claimed that they found beef in their refrigerators. In October, authorities in Rajasthan demolished a house they said was built illegally on temple land. The actions followed allegations against the homeowner Naseeb Chaudhary and his son of involvement in a knife attack at a Hindu temple.

Meanwhile, the bulldozer has become an inextricable part of India’s political culture, a symbol of Hindu-nationalist political iconography. In political rallies across the country during the 2024 elections, hordes of bulldozers—adorned with flowers and posters of Modi and Adityanath—were on display as props.

The bulldozer is not only a political symbol; it has permeated the national culture, with bulldozers as popular toys and stylized images on snack wrappers. In the aftermath of the BJP’s victory in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, young male supporters lined up in front of tattoo studios to get bulldozers inked on their skin. Another notable example is the regular evocation of bulldozers in the lyrics of Hindutva pop, a genre of music that infuses Hindu-nationalist ideology with popular music styles and catchy beats.

The genre regularly glorifies the enforcers of bulldozer justice, presenting them as heroes and protectors of Hindu identity. Bulldozers themselves are glorified for perpetrating retributive violence. One popular song features the lyrics “He is tough on anti-nationals / Bulldozer Baba is saffron-clad.” The song, released two years ago on YouTube, has some 4.2 million views.

The BJP’s disappointing results in the 2024 general elections have triggered a conversation about whether the party’s divisive approach to sectarian politics, as symbolized by the bulldozer, is sustainable. But the bulldozer continues to be central to Adityanath’s political strategy.

In a parliamentary session last July, Uttar Pradesh state minister Sanjay Nishad, a BJP ally, attributed the party’s losses to the “misuse of bulldozers.” In response, Adityanath stood by the “bulldozer policy,” asserting that he was not motivated as chief minister by the mere desire to hold a job but “to ensure that those guilty also suffer.” Many BJP voters clearly support this view. On Nov. 9, 2024, several of Adityanath’s supporters attended his public rally in the city of Mainpuri riding on a bulldozer. It was an obvious threat that the public should toe the sectarian line or face consequences.

People watch as the house of a Muslim man is demolished in Prayagraj on June 12, 2022. Ritesh Shukla/Reuters

The weaponization of the bulldozer has already widened the cleavage between Hindus and Muslims in India. But the instigation of division through political symbols is nothing new. Hindu-nationalist forces have long used religious imagery and idioms as tools in the politics of belonging and othering. Today, BJP leaders still promote the idea that the two communities are unified blocs with distinct, and often opposing, interests. Adityanath has often used the slogan “Batenge toh katenge”—that is, Hindus will be slaughtered if they are divided—invoking it after the 2024 elections, urging the community to stay united. And during the recent state election campaign in Maharashtra, Modi reiterated Adityanath’s message, saying, “We are safe if we are together.” The implicit message (often made explicit) is that the opposition Indian National Congress party is responsible for dividing Indians, by playing intercaste politics among Hindus.

India’s diversity is reduced to a religious binary, with Muslims depicted as a group that poses a threat and needs to be disciplined. The bulldozer enacts this discipline.

In India, the putative home of religious diversity, Hindu nationalism is thus actively advancing social fragmentation. The BJP-controlled government amplifies the anxieties of Hindu society about the Muslim minority, which produces prejudices that, in turn, influence electoral politics and policy. This pattern of mutual reinforcement offers no guarantee of electoral success, as the BJP saw last year. But it nevertheless deepens societal divides and threatens to worsen the precarious position of Muslims and other minorities for generations.

The bulldozer is the latest avatar of this destructive majoritarian politics. Yet there is now a glimmer of hope—albeit a tenuous one—that Indian Muslims may be spared its use in a physical, if not symbolic, sense. Last November, after four years of bulldozer justice, India’s Supreme Court delivered a judgment denouncing extrajudicial demolitions. In its ruling, the court criticized the authorities’ bypassing of due process, deeming such actions unconstitutional. The response so far from Adityanath and Modi has been a conspicuous silence.

Even if the era of state-sanctioned bulldozer justice is over, though, the deep social scars it has produced are likely irreversible. The bulldozer will remain indelibly imprinted in the collective memory of Hindus and Muslims alike.