(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...2,468 views
Television Actor Aamir Ali has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court after he was refused a house in Lokhandwala, because of his religion. The court has asked the state government to respond in four weeks.
Apart from the problem Muslims face, it is also an unhealthy trend for the nation when communities stay aloof from each other and their interaction gets minimal. As a result people get more prejudiced and communal. The issue warrants serious attention and a national debate is needed.
It is undoubtedly a colossal task for Muslims to get a house, either buying a flat in a society or renting a house, in most cities in the country. The link to the story is here.
In most cities, people generally prefer person belonging to their community or caste while giving their house on rent. This is a person’s right and we can’t contest it. Sometimes if the Muslim family has a deeper pocket then they may get the house.
But in Mumbai the situation is even more alarming. Even money can’t get you the house in certain localities. Hundreds of housing societies have this unwritten rule, ‘Non-vegetarians (euphemism for Muslims) are not allowed’.
This form of discrimination should not be tolerated and action can be taken as per the provisions of Cooperative Socities’ Act. At least, the warnings can be issued. Social activists should take up the issue.
Each person can play a role. We should open arms to person belonging to the other community and surely there will be reciprocation.
Simply blaming others for communalim won’t help. And all of us must introspect how biased we are about the person belonging to other caste, region or community.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 72 comments }
← Previous Comments
Achal:
I am not able to appreciate your point about ‘goodwill’, considering the fact that Gujarat riots affected mainly those muslims who had that ‘goodwill’.
Have you ever wondered why Godhra remained calm when the entire Gujrat was burning, even though the episode itself started from Godhra?
I will now tell you the bitter truth about Godhra, which even muslims find difficult to acknowledge. Godhra is notorious for petty criminal gangs, mostly muslims, who trade in illicit liquor, country made guns and extortion. It is precisely this notoriety of Godhra that kept rioters away from the city, while the rest of Gujarat was burning. Now what message does it send? The message is that do not think that peaceful living can bring any safety to you. If you are an ordinary law abiding muslim citizen, you can be buthchered like an animal. OTOH if you are connected to a gang of criminals dealing in illegal arms or better still, you are one of them, nobody will dare touch you! So much for the goodwill!
If you ask a Gujarati muslim today, you will find that muslim bhai-s of Godhra, who till yesterday extorted money from businessmen regardless of their religion, have suddenly become community heroes. And how can we blame them? Muslim lawyers and businessmen from Ahmedabad could not bring any safety to muslims; but the terror of bhai-s of Godhra could still prevent rioter mobs from entering the city. So the criminals are definitely more effective in bringing safety to their community than peace loving law abiding professionals.
Dear Achal, it was not the ‘goodwill’ that came to the rescue of muslims in Gujarat, it was the ‘lack of goodwill’ that proved to be more effective. Why do you think that anyone whould chase the ‘goodwill’ trail, if it is so utterly useless?
Asad:
The argument you make cuts both ways. One of the primary reasons that many people in urban areas of Gujarat supported the BJP to begin with was the heavy extortion racket that was run mostly by Muslim thugs, supported by the Congress leaders of course. One could not buy a vehicle, marry one’s daughter, buy a house, or in some cases even rent an apartment without getting an extortion call from somebody. And that somebody was likely to be a Muslim. Never mind the fact that there were criminals in every community and that 99% of Muslims in Gujarat were as law abiding as anybody else – this kind of contact colored the perceptions of the urban Gujarati about Muslims in general. The same was the case in Mumbai around the time the Sena/BJP first rose to power in Maharashtra. The argument was that if you have to elect thugs to power anyway, it was better to elect thugs that did not bother you on a day-to-day basis and who were ‘your’ thugs. A selfish, cynical viewpoint, but one which had a context nevertheless.
The underlying problem behind many of our problems – whether it is criminality or communalism – is the weakness in enforcement of rule of law. Make the police an effective force and the judiciary an effective judiciary and many of these problems will at least reduce, if not go away.
Mohib:
It is not entirely true that nobody complains of discrimination where there isn’t any. Azharuddin’s and Salman Khan’s sudden conversion to religiosity after their misdoings were exposed, and their claims that the reason for action against them was because of their religion are examples that come to mind. The demands by Kerala’s muslims (or rather some of the leaders), who are at similar social level as others, for special status is another example of the cynical use of ‘minorityism’. These are of course individual actions and it would be unfair to generalize about the entire Indian Muslim community based on these examples. But the point I am making is that there are plenty of examples of the use of minorityism also, which we need to work against.
@Girish
[quote post="320"]The argument you make cuts both ways. One of the primary reasons that many people in urban areas of Gujarat supported the BJP to begin with was the heavy extortion racket that was run mostly by Muslim thugs, supported by the Congress leaders of course. One could not buy a vehicle, marry one’s daughter, buy a house, or in some cases even rent an apartment without getting an extortion call from somebody. And that somebody was likely to be a Muslim. [/quote]
Girish, have you found out from muslim businessmen if they were treated any better by those thugs who happened to be muslims? What leverage an ordinary muslim citizen does have in front of bhai-s? Do you think you will be in a position to pressurize chhota rajan or babloo srivastava if it came to that?
I know from my own experience that my relatives in Ahmedabad would prohibit their boys from mixing with “lukkha-s”, though knowing their religion fully well. I even had to argue with them since sometimes they would give a very casteist advice to their kids to play with only ‘upper caste hindu’ boys. Today those very “lukkha-s” have suddenly become ‘heroes’.
If you ask a muslim child in Gujarat, you will probably hear a story of some ‘hero’ who had enough bombs to blow up entire Gujarat, that’s why rioters did not came to that mohulla! They have nothing in common with that ‘hero’. They do not belong to same socio-economic strata, they do not speak the same language and they do not attend same school. Only thing that binds them together is a burning rage.
When my cousin sisters used to come from Ahmedabad to visit us at Lucknow, they would tell us with pride how safe Ahmedabad was. They would compare Lucknow with Ahmedabad and tell us that in Lucknow a lone girl walking in the night was at risk of whistling, while no one would think such thing in Ahmedabad! Where is that pride now?
It is as if the dreams of an entire generation have been stolen. The same kids who till yesterday used to dream of becoming a doctor, a nurse , a lawyer, have suddenly lost all their dreams and their role models.
Asad has brought up very good point which is a hard pill to swallow by both Muslims and Hindus. It has been proven again and again that Indian police, especially in Hindi speaking states has a bias against Muslims. This becomes worse when the state machinery rewards them for the same. When minorities lose hope in the system where do they look up to? In late 80s there was a phenomenon that Muslims who would become rich or educated, would find Muslim localities to be too dingy but after the rioting instances over past 15 years, they acknoledge the value of living together with the community as a lonely sheep gets attacked first. We have the examples of Ehsan Jaafari whose secular neighbours could not save him while the least affected people in Gujrat riots were those living in thick Muslim localities.
First thing would be to realize that minorities are part of the system, not outside of it. It’s your system too.
I don’t know about you, but I would examine the reasons why and then start working on improving the system, working hand-in-hand with others who also agree with me that the system needs to be improved. I mean I don’t really see a mass migration of Indian Muslims to Islamic countries happening in near future, nor do I see Babar’s Muslim empire coming back to India. So, we’re left with a secular democracy and strengthening it. What do you think?
Amit:
I didn’t say ‘your system’ so what is the point in emphasizing that I am part of the system. You know that our judicial systems takes so much time that both the victim and accused lose hope. Don’t you think it can be improved? You also know that the police only support the ruling government, when governments change in UP the next day all the police officers start packing their bags? This is the system I am talking about which affects you and me, equally.
You are so quick to think about mass migration of Muslims or Babar rule, while no Muslim on this blog ever talked about it. As the name of the blog goes, Indiam Muslims, we are proud to be Indians and proud to be Muslims. We don’t need Babar nor Pakistan. We live here and die here. This is what every Muslim in India believes in.
Of course it needs to be changed! How do you think we change it?
I was merely pointing out two extreme scenarios that probably both/some Muslims and Hindus think about, and how both are absurd. Why would you assume that I meant both the scenarios as thought by Indian Muslims?
Apologies for off-topic comment, but I wanted to explain where I was coming from.
By Babar, I meant Mughal Empire that ruled India. I don’t have time to search and list each and every comment on this blog (let alone other blogs), but if you read past posts and comments, the fondness by SOME Muslims for Mughal empire in India comes across very clearly, and the implication by THOSE Muslims that Indian history started with Babar. So much for being Indian and familiarity with Indian history. I guess one can’t really blame RSS types for thinking that the Mughal empire was a blot on Indian history, right? It’s the other side of the same coin.
But then again, it’s easier to get side-tracked into all these silly and impractical discussions than focusing on how to improve secular democracy, and what that means to Indians. Oh well.
Mohib, and how has patronizing of Muslims by Congress party over the decades affected Muslims? I’d be interested in hearing your views on it.
@Achal
[quote post="320"]I did not like the day when India’s name was thrown on the forefront of global terrorism. I believe you did not like it too. So there where we need to start doing some work. And maybe the first step from you would be to question your leadership, politicians etc who keep you jailed in a communal mindset. [/quote]
Achal, you will see only what you want to see. You seem to believe that political hijacking of community agenda is only a Muslim issue. Maybe I can convince you otherwise.
Do you know that name of Vivekananda has been and is being increasingly used by VHP and Bajrang Dal to support their hate capaign against muslims? If not, listen to some of their speeches, now so readily available on google video or just go through some of their pamphlets. You will find name of Vivekananda being invoked in the hate campaigns and his photos planted in hate pamphlets. Now I have myself read Vivekananda and I know the values he stood for. I consider him the most enlightened hindu religious figure of all times. I am sure if he were alive today, he would be horrified to see his name being invoked in such hate campaigns. Yet how many hindus you have actually seen protesting against hijacking of Vivekananda’s name by the saffron brigade? Or have you seen anyone protesting when Prahlad Shastri and Acharya Dharmendra quote Gita to support violence against muslims as kaurava-s of kali-yuga?
Why not you make a start? I am sure you will find many areas that could benefit from your initiatives.
I have seen all the videos. Most of the time they are blaming Gandhi for suedo non-violence and pakistan for terrorism. Thier is some content which asks Hindus to face oppression and not to allow it to rule them. Thier is no direct context related to muslims that I can see. Maybe I am wrong, do correct me.
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.