Hindustan Times
A house for Mr Hashmi
A housing complex in Mumbai has blocked a move by Indian actor Emraan Hashmi to acquire an apartment in the city’s upscale Pali Hill area because he is Muslim, the actor has alleged.
The case has brought back the debate about prejudices Muslims face, and how our secular republic reconciles itself with equal rights guaranteed by the constitution to minorities.Discrimination against minorities is often subtle, difficult to address legally and harder to prove.
More and more young, educated Muslims, single and couples, are leaving their native comfort zones for bigger cities for employment. They may not be denied jobs – discrimination is never that blatant — but are safely deprived of decent housing on the grounds that their way of life is “incompatible” with the Hindu society. There is a need to first correct our sociological assessment and reclaim our plural identities. Indian values are not Hindu values alone.
Discrimination against minorities is often denied but can easily be uncovered. The ‘altering eye, alters all’. Try this. Assume that you are a Muslim young man, married with a child. Call on a few brokers in Delhi’s Rohini locality for example. Here’s what to expect: brokers will either mince words, or jack up the rent seven times to scare you off or, if you are lucky, bluntly tell you the unpalatable truth.
Muslims seldom articulate such discrimination at the drop of a hat. Hashmi is a celebrity and the media gladly heard him out. However, thousands of ordinary Muslims not just frequently put up with such discrimination but also grin and bear it.
Bias of this sort is not bound by the law, which may limit blatant forms of discrimination, like denial of a job. It is an invisible arrow; not open bigotry and therefore twice as dangerous.
Hashmi is now unlikely to get the flat. His landlord, according to newspaper reports, has told him that he did not wish to sell the flat because his Canada-based son might need it.
I have no reason to doubt Hashmi’s claims. Pulling out of deals to sell or rent houses to Muslims at the eleventh hour on grounds of the client’s religion is a reality. The property owner usually proffers this notoriously familiar excuse: his son based abroad is heading back home and moving in. It is difficult to deny a deserving Muslim admission in college or jobs but it’s easy to deny him a house on rent or a place up for sale.
Some time ago, much before Hashmi came up with his case, I was seated across the table with India’s minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid. I wondered if he was aware of Muslims facing discrimination in housing. “Yes and I stay in a Muslim locality where they don’t deliver pizzas,” he said. Khurshid feels Muslims have to reason with Hindus and find a creative solution, which though may not be easy. He is right.
We as Indian Muslims are struggling to remain who we are. I am sorry to see the slow death of Hindu liberalism. Much as we fail to see it, Hindu right-wing nationalism has spurred a hostile reawakening of the Hindu faith, much like radical Islam.
The mixed legacy of our villages is still largely intact. It is in our cities where differences have sharpened. The reality is that Muslims in urban India are facing a post-assimilation problem. They are blamed for failing to integrate and mainstream themselves; and are thought to be not loyal enough.
However, racial integration is not our problem at all. We come largely from the same stock, having converted roughly between 700 and 900 years ago. Integration is done and long over.
We are not European Muslims coping with a hostile continental culture. Our sub-continental identities are inseparable from our Muslim identity. Our Indian values are no less evolved than any other community. Unlike European Muslims, we are not immigrants from another land. So, why should we be denied houses?
Educated Muslims often take up houses in ghettos for reasons of compulsion than choice. This affects their quality of life.
It is surprising that problems of born-again European Muslims are cropping up in India, where Hindus and Muslims have always experienced shared destinies.
Our constitution precludes any scope for institutional discrimination. We have never had anything like France’s laïcité.
I always believed that continental European Muslims should be envious of their Indian counterparts. But some Western irritants are creeping into our lives. Indian Muslims are now caught between a Left which wants right-wing Hindu nationalism pushed out of public life — but doesn’t mind Islam — and the Right that wants Islam pushed out of public life, while reinforcing Hindutva.
The French concept of laïcité that began as a complete separation of the Church and State has evolved to another extreme today. In July last year, France rejected citizenship rights to a Moroccan-origin woman who wears a burqa, citing her “radical” practice of Islam and her complete “submission” to her husband. Click here.
Hindutva, as opposed to Hinduism, could well turn out to be India’s laïcité. We don’t need laïcité here. Our goalposts of a secular, sovereign democratic republic had been well thought out by our founding fathers. Click here to read the Preamble.
We must be granted everything as individuals and as Muslims as long as we remain Indians. It is not desirable to legislate every aspect of an individual’s life. However, widespread cases of housing discrimination sometimes make me wonder if it is about time we regulated housing so that minorities get their share.
For instance, a new housing complex could have flats reserved for minorities, which should first be offered to them at market prices. Make no mistake. We are not talking of discounted housing or subsidies here. All we are saying is, give us a house. You will find Muslim buyers who will give you a better deal.
(21 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)
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not that I cared; but, for my Muslim visitors, it was traumatic. Also, in Bangkok, the capital of a country with large Muslim minority, hunting for Halal food is tough.
AKGURTOO Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
wow. v pertinent. wait some more time &’ hashmi’ + ‘they call me muslim’ s types will clamour for next partition of this unfortunate country. Kashmir has been ethnically cleansed. Border areas along our east / west / north are proggresivly undergone a sea change due to migration / resettlement of muslims of various hues,& are heading for being muslim majority areas. Try electing a non muslim to any position in any areas with sizable muslim population. Just not possible. Islam is not a religion as we know religion. Islam is a very succesful socio-political system for colonising the world.
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shekon Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
The author has a typical “victim” mentality – as a landlord owning 10+ apartments in South Dehli – I have always allowed Muslims tenants at my place till 9/11. After 9/11 – my idea of a “good” Muslim gave way to the “PARASITE” Muslim.
Any country Mohammedans go to, they create trouble. Lets talk about India.
Muslims either need to integrate into mainstream “Hindu” India or go join Pakistan or their Arab masters in Middle East.
India is a secular nation but with a HINDU ethos. If you want to live in a land with NO discrimination, I have a brilliant location : The Sahara Desert.
Move there and then read namaz 5 times a day and be a sand nigger as you are called in the west.
As a global Hindu from a Muslim pleasing nation which is a BIG failure since 1947 -( compared to China, Brazil etc ) – a lot of the blame in India’s lack of progress is with the 180 million parasites we endure on a daily basis.
No nation can become a superpower when 18% of its population is living the life as a terminal parasitic infection.
Educated muslims – please migrate to other nations from India. Back stabbers of the best lot.
We have allowed you to flourish and prosper and now how dare you point fingers at the Hindus ?
Get out of this nation – if you do not like it here !!
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amy Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
how much blood or cash have they sucked out of u?They are Indian citizens and u are no one to deny their claims to their rights,continue to feel wounded and cry coz we have all moved on inspite of all the allegations and counter allegations coz that’s what they are.If u cant live with others then u are welcome to be anti soicial and I hope u gain a lot from such a stand.
Anil Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Not blood but Hidnu pilgrims do nto get free airticket to Kambodia Ankorwat temples why are muslim getitng that privilege..
yes that money goes out of my pocket why shoudl i fund religious duty of muslims as a hindu
amy Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
ASk for it too but dont blame others for what they have;classical example of jelousy.Muslims too pay taxes but continue to live in filthy gettos .ref to sachar committee reprort for an update and refer to Tripathi Temple case.
Rajeev Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Muslims don’t pay any taxes cause they are poor as per Sachar report.
amy Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Good even if that was documented but it doesnt change the facts. stop discrimnating others and stake ur own claims.
Ziya Akhtar Dhar Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Absolutely. My father is a Kashmiri hindu and my mother a kashmiri muslim. Needless to say they both had fled the state before anyone could find out. And shortly after the rest of the kashmiri hindu’s were thrown out. No one wants to talk of the ethnic cleansing of kashmiri hindus. The fact is wherever muslims are in majority they want a separate land. And when they are not, they want their rights. Double standards within their own community between men and women and the same transpires with other religions.
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Ansaruddin Rahimi Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I absolutely diagree the statement.
There are ills and good in every human being. For misdeeds of some people you do not blame a religion. That is simply improper thinking even if you hold a highest post in a feild either PM, President or CEO of multi billion dallor company etc.
Indiscrimination exists between people; for that point you dont blame a religions.
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