Security personnel stand guard outside the Syed Faiz Elahi mosque after the demolition of alleged encroachments from a land adjoining the mosque and a nearby graveyard carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), at Turkman Gate area.
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Moneycontrol08-01-2026, 13:40

Delhi's Turkman Gate Unrest Rekindles Emergency-Era Scars

  • Recent demolition drive by MCD at Delhi's Turkman Gate led to clashes, with residents pelting stones and police using tear gas.
  • The unrest revived painful memories of a brutal 1976 incident during Indira Gandhi's Emergency at the same site.
  • In 1976, Sanjay Gandhi's "beautification" drive led to demolitions and coercive family planning, with residents facing sterilisation targets.
  • The 1976 confrontation escalated into a massacre on April 19, with police firing on protesters and bulldozers clearing bodies.
  • Independent estimates suggest around 400 deaths and over a thousand injured in the 1976 Turkman Gate atrocity.

Why It Matters: Recent Delhi clashes at Turkman Gate reopen old wounds from the violent 1976 Emergency-era massacre.

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