On May 12, protest erupted in Basvai gram panchayat under Maholi tehsil of Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh after the tehsil administration and police moved to evict nearly fifty families from their ancestral land using JCB machines.
Using JCB machines, officials began measuring land surrounding a large jhabar-type wetland pond spread across several acres near the village and initiated embankment construction. Villagers said that the administration is illegally attempting to seize more than half of their cultivated fields — land that is recorded in their khatauni (government land-revenue record) and has remained under their possession and cultivation for generations.
As demolition machinery entered the area, CPI(ML) Basvai branch secretary Comrade Pushpa Devi intervened to halt the operation. In response, dozens of village women rapidly assembled at the site, raised the red flag under her leadership, and launched an on-the-spot dharna and protest against the eviction drive.
The affected families stated that they are only demanding transparent and lawful land measurement according to official land records. However, according to villagers, tehsil authorities openly declared that all land up to the jhabar area would be taken over and that no objections from villagers would be entertained.
The struggle in Basvai continues amid heavy police presence and intimidation of protesting villagers. The agitation has become a symbol of growing resistance in Uttar Pradesh against the Yogi-BJP government’s bulldozer raj, administrative repression, and attacks on peasants’ land, livelihood, and democratic rights.
