In recent years, as demolitions became a recurrent feature of India’s new extrajudicial justice system, many writers decried the bulldozer as an affront to the rule of law. But perhaps the bulldozer is a surprisingly apt metaphor to describe the rule of law in contemporary India. Its purpose is destructive and punitive, not preventive or rehabilitative; in theory, it should only be used as per established procedures, but in practice, it is a tool weaponised by those in power; it disproportionately oppresses minority communities; and it is vulnerable to crony capitalism. If anything, bulldozers in the public imagination have come to represent a more accurate representation of the rule of law in India than the ideal of rule of law itself. One of the clearest indicators of this transformation is that words like “demolition,” “bulldozer justice,” and “bulldozer baba,” have become intrinsic to India’s legal and political vocabulary. The semantics…

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