By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Is being a Muslim itself a cause of suspicion? Yes, at least in Delhi where Muslims are suspected not only by the police but also a majority of the majority community. The case becomes crystal clear when it comes to renting flats in the city where Muslim ruled for about 1,000 years.
Meet Naqueeb Ahmad, 24, a promising IT engineer. He works with HCL, a premier computer software company. His office is in Noida, some 15 km from New Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area where he lives in a two-room flat. With good salary and a well-known company tag, he wanted to reside in some posh areas but he landed in Jamia Nagar, one of the largest Muslim ghettoes in Delhi.
Why? “I tried to get a two-room flat in Chirag Dilli area, got one and had the first meeting with owner of the flat over rental,” says Ahmad, a bachelor planning to be engaged this year talking to TwoCircles.net. Everything was going well. “The flat was fine and the rate was affordable, too. The owner offered me tea and during conversation he absent-mindedly asked my name. When he knew I am a Muslim that was enough to seal the deal. He said he would rent to a family, not bachelors. He forgot that in the beginning of the talks he had said he had no problem with bachelors,” recounts Ahmad.
Ahmad also tried to get a rented flat in Pushp Vihar, Connaught Place and South Extension localities but everywhere his application was turned down on one ground or the other. Shocked by the discrimination, he went to Connaught Place area, not alone but with a Hindu friend. But in vain. In South Extension area which is more popular for markets but has some residential flats, Ahmad had a Sikh friend Manpreet Singh. He wanted to share his room. His friend agreed but when the lady owner of the flat came to know about it, she denied saying that the Muslim would be a non-vegetarian.
Not only Naqueeb Ahmad, there are many Ahmads who are facing humiliation from Hindu homeowners in Delhi.
Ahmad’s friend Faheem is a System Administrator at an MNC. He lived in Sarita Vihar area that is near the Apollo Hospital where his elder brother works as a physician. In the wake of growing anti-Muslim feeling following terrorist bombings for which Muslims are accused by default, Faheem and his brother were asked by the flat owner to vacate it without giving any reason.
Not only a particular area but entire Delhi is playing stranger to Muslims. To gauge the situation, Abhishek Sharan of Hindustan Times set out for a flat in posh colonies. He assumed the identity of one Imran Sheikh, a software professional from Aligarh. Wherever he went with this identity for a rented accommodation, be it Malviya Nagar, Vasant Kunj or Model Town, he failed. He revealed it in an article.
In Malviya Nagar he got a flat and over final talks when he revealed his identity, the owner had a quick, furtive look at him and denied. The broker later told him that the owner is a conservative and does not want to give flat to a Muslim.
In Vasant Kunj area the broker grilled him on the phone about his education, background and company and when he came to know he was Imran Sheikh he tried to cut the line instantly but being persisted for the reason he said he would have to get his identity particulars verified by the local police, by the Aligarh police and also by the employer.
This is not the process in practice. Generally a tenant has to fill a single form comprising his identity particulars which are meant to be verified by local police.
In Model Town, the flat owner after knowing he is a Muslim asked about passport. When Imran Sheikh (Abhishek Sharan) said he did not one, the owner said he had to get one.
Notwithstanding what politicians say and how many welfare programs the government announces, the ground reality is that Muslims are being victimized. And this is resulting in ghettoisation.
According to 2001 Census, 16,23,520 Muslims are in Delhi. An overwhelming majority of them are living in ghettoes like Jamia Nagar, Okhla, Nizamuddin and Seelampur. A sizeable chunk of the Muslim community lives in the Walled City area that includes Jama Masjid ara, Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, Darya Ganj and Matia Mahal.
The Muslim legislators who are in the Delhi government today represent these ghettoes: Perwez Hashmi (Okhla), Chaudhry Mateen Ahmad (Seelampur), Shoaib Iqbal (Matia Mahal) and Haroon Yusuf (Ballimaran).
The hatred Muslim tenants facing at the hands of Hindu landlords is mainly because of the anti-Muslim atmosphere created in the wake of terror attacks in Delhi and other parts of the country. For this credit should go to the police and media, particularly electronic media which present suspects as convict.