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Dehradun: Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday said that if an investigation finds irregularities in the land allotment case in Dehradun’s Dhaulas, the land in question will be vested in the state government.
“Congress has always prioritised appeasement politics. The repeated references to demographic change and a Muslim university point towards a larger conspiracy. The land allotment in Dhaulas is a clear example of this. Orders have been issued to investigate the entire matter, and if any irregularities are found, the land will be taken over by the state government,” Dhami said.
The controversy centres around a 20-acre parcel of agricultural land in Dhaulas, near Premnagar, in Dehradun district, which was allotted at concessional rates by the then N.D. Tiwari-led Congress government in 2004 to the Sheikhul Hind Education Charitable Trust for establishing a minority educational institution. When the proposed project failed to materialise, the matter reached the Uttarakhand High Court, which permitted the sale of the land but only as agricultural land and without any change in land use. However, a preliminary probe by the Dehradun district administration has revealed that the land was allegedly sold to 15 individuals, who further subdivided it into residential plots and sold them to around 80 buyers, according to officials.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat dismissed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) allegations, calling them politically motivated.
“A land allotment from 2004 is now being portrayed as a Muslim university and demographic change. The BJP has been in power multiple times since 2004. If something was wrong, why did they remain silent till 2026?” Rawat said.
He claimed that most buyers of the subdivided plots were Hindus, including teachers, former soldiers and people from hill districts, and said the issue was being communalised to divert attention from governance failures.
“This is less about legality and more about political exploitation. Inflation, unemployment, corruption, migration, rising crimes, wildlife attacks in the hills — all real issues are being ignored while communal rhetoric is being used for political cover,” Rawat said.
Former state Congress president and Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh also accused the BJP of raising “religious polarisation” to divert attention from governance failures.
“If there was any scam, why has no action been taken despite the BJP being in power for nearly 15 years since the Tiwari government? The BJP should clarify in which government order the land was ever sanctioned for a ‘Muslim University’,” he said.
State BJP spokesperson Vinod Chamoli said the land allotment raised serious national security concerns, citing the proximity of the land to the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
“The disputed land was allotted during the Tiwari government, ignoring security concerns and the presence of IMA in the area. Now attempts are being made to settle people from a particular community there. This is a serious matter,” Chamoli said.
He added that he has urged the chief minister to cancel the allotment and immediately take the land into government possession.
“The chief minister has assured prompt action. The BJP organisation and the government will not allow any such conspiracy to succeed in Devbhoomi,” he said.