Jaipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan on Wednesday (January 21) announced that it will table a Bill in the upcoming budget session of the state assembly, which will give the administration the power to designate certain areas of the state as “disturbed areas”, address “demographic imbalance” and prevent “distress sale” of properties.Reacting strongly to the development, the Rajasthan Congress has termed the proposed legislation to be against the Constitution and accused the BJP of trying to bring the “Gujarat model” to Rajasthan and spreading religious hatred.At present, neighbouring Gujarat is another state where a similar law exists, which has over the time often served as a tool to restrict Muslim families from moving into Hindu-majority neighbourhoods.‘All transfer of property without prior permission would be considered null’After a meeting of the state council of ministers on Wednesday, Rajasthan law minister Jogaram Patel told reporters that the proposed bill has been named The Rajasthan Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from the Premises in Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026.“In several regions of our state, the impact of increasing population of a particular community, demographic imbalance, communal tension and lack of public harmony is being seen on the community. In several areas, riots, incidents of violence by mobs, create unrest and long-term residents are forced to sell their properties at throwaway prices. A change is coming in the demographic profile,” said Patel, speaking in Hindi.Patel claimed that the need for a special law to deal with these issues has been felt for a long time.“Everyone had expressed their interest that the government should bring some law to stop such incidents like communal tension, demographic imbalance and all that is happening. Today, all colleagues of the council of ministers under the chairmanship of the honourable chief minister have given approval to The Rajasthan Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from the Premises in Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026,” said Patel.Patel said that the Bill will be tabled in the upcoming assembly session and will give the government the power to designate a particular area as disturbed area due to factors such as “riots, unrest by mob, disruption of public administration or demographic imbalance and improper clustering.”“Once a disturbed area is declared, then in that area all transfer of property without prior permission would be considered null and void. If someone wants to transfer, then the competent authority as per the law, who is generally the DM (district magistrate), has to grant permission. The permission can be granted after an application by the person and an inquiry,” said Patel.Patel added that the proposed law has the provision for three to five of imprisonment for those who violate its provisions with offences under the proposed legislation being non-bailable.“The disturbed area that will be designated will be for a period of three years. The disturbed area tag could be ended before the completion of three years after an inquiry. The disturbed area classification could also be extended after three years following an inquiry,” said Patel, terming the Bill as “progressive.”While the Rajasthan government is strongly advocating for the law, the example of Gujarat, where a similar law has been in place since the last 40 years, raises questions about ghettoisation of minorities, especially Muslims.As reported before by The Wire, in September 2025, a 15-year-old Muslim teenage girl from Gujarat ended her life after her family’s purchase of a house in their own neighbourhood led to months of harassment, violence and intimidation under the shadow of Gujarat’s Disturbed Areas Act.Neighbours allegedly threatened them with legal action under the Disturbed Areas Act, implying that their purchase could be invalidated. This, the family said, deterred them from pushing harder for police action and created the space for intimidation to fester.‘You want to hide your government’s failure and have brought the Gujarat model of fear’The opposition Congress has slammed the decision of the Rajasthan government to bring in the law and alleged that it is trying to implement the Gujarat government in Rajasthan on the instruction of the BJP’s central leadership.“This government has been made with a parchi (slip) and I say it repeatedly that this government doesn’t work from its conscience. They get a parchi and since the last two years they have been just reading from that parchi. This is the parchi of the Gujarat model which has come from Delhi. This is not a government or constitutional language. This is the language of a political agenda,” Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra told reporters on Wednesday.Ever since the BJP government came to power in December 2023 and first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was made the chief minister, the opposition Congress has repeatedly claimed that the state government is run by the BJP central leadership from Delhi by sending slips, with the phrase “parchi sarkar (slip government)” being used by the Congress to attack the saffron party.भाजपा सरकार राजस्थान जैसे शांति प्रिय प्रदेश को अशांत बनाने के इरादे से डर, भय और असंवैधानिक कार्यों वाला ‘गुजरात मॉडल’ यहां थोपने पर आमादा है।जिस प्रदेश में संविधान और कानून है, भाजपा वहां डर और धार्मिक उन्माद फैलाने के लिए एवं निजी संपत्तियों पर प्रशासन को बैठाने के लिए काला… pic.twitter.com/f7cc2ajULg— Govind Singh Dotasra (@GovindDotasra) January 21, 2026“How will you declare a disturbed area? How will you decide about demography? In which Constitution is this written? You don’t want to create an environment of peace but that of fear. You don’t want to stop riots but incite riots. You want to hide your government’s failure and have brought the Gujarat model of fear, wherein peace and the Constitution is nowhere to be found. Today they will say, the area is disturbed, tomorrow they will say the district is disturbed and the day after tomorrow the entire democracy will be disturbed. Their attempt is against the Constitution,” said Dotasra.“This proposed law is a violation of Article 300A of our Constitution that gives every person the right over their property. It is also a violation of Article 14 which gives the right to equality. They want to bring such a bill as part of a conspiracy to disturb peaceful Rajasthan. We already have riot-control laws, there are provisions in IPC and CrPC. Despite everything you want to make the bureaucrat sit on a person’s property who will decide,” the state Congress president added.Dotasra said that the proposed legislation will lead to investors unwilling to come to Rajasthan and will also result in underdevelopment of such designated areas, with land prices going down along with deterioration in communal harmony.“They only want to spread religious violence and get leverage out of it,” said Dotasra.