The recent bulldozer-enabled demolitions reflect a "complete breakdown of law and order" and it is fair to assume that this "novel" method of removing encroachments is aimed at the Muslim community and the poor, senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram said.

In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram came down hard on the Jahangirpuri demolitions and those in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone earlier, saying the BJP leaders' justification of the bulldozer-enabled demolitions "flies in the face of the law". On criticism from certain quarters that the Congress delegation was late by a day in visiting the Jahangirpuri demolition site with Opposition leaders such as Brinda Karat and Asaduddin Owaisi reaching there first, the former Union minister said, "I am not aware of who visited when. I know that a Congress delegation visited the area shortly after the demolitions were carried out. If there was an unexplained delay, I regret it."