20

Jun

Protest against house allotment to Muslim woman being treated with kid gloves

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Syed Khalique Ahmed

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New Delhi, 20 June 2024

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was delivering a speech in Italy stating that India’s election results were a “victory for the democratic world”, about three dozen residents of the Motnath Residency Cooperative Housing Services Society Limited in the Harni area were protesting against the allotment of a flat to a Muslim woman on the ground of her religion. The society has been developed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation(VMC) for low-income group people under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana. The 44-year-old Muslim woman, an employee of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development, was allotted an apartment in this housing complex, through a process of draw of lots.

The protest against the allotment started when the woman could move into her house. The protesters are demanding that the allotment to the Muslim woman be cancelled on the grounds of her being a possible “threat and nuisance” to other residents. There are a total of 461 flats in the society and the woman in question is the only Muslim allottee in the entire housing complex.

The protesters feel so emboldened that they have given in writing to the Vadodara district collector, VMC municipal commissioner, VMC Mayor and Vadodara Police Commissioner that the allotment of woman is “invalidated” and she should be allotted a house in another housing society. The Hindu protesters say that Harni is a Hindu-dominated area and there is no Muslim habitation in a periphery of about four kilometres and her presence in the complex will disturb the peaceful life of the residents. They suggest that Muslim women should be given an option in a Muslim-dominated area of the city.

 

Article at a Glance

 

The article discusses the protest against the allotment of a flat to a Muslim woman in a housing society developed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation in Gujarat, India. The protesters, who are Hindu residents of the society, are demanding the cancellation of the allotment because the woman poses a "threat and nuisance" to other residents.

The woman was allotted the flat through a legal process, and the VMC authorities have stated that the allotment does not allow discrimination based on religion. The protesters have given a written request to the authorities to invalidate the allotment and allot the woman a house in a Muslim-dominated area.

The issue has raised concerns about the constitutional rights of Indian citizens to live and settle anywhere in the country, and the role of political parties in creating an anti-Muslim atmosphere. The article also mentions the history of communal tensions in Gujarat and the use of the Disturbed Areas Ordinance to control the sale of properties in disturbed areas.

The ordinance was generally used when a Muslim wanted to buy a property from a Hindu owner in a Muslim-dominated area, and it has become an obstruction to the spatial extension and growth of Muslims in mixed areas. The article raises the question of whether we should be proud of a culture of segregation based on religion, as was done in pre-Christian Europe with the Jews.

 

VMC authorities told media persons that the woman was allotted the house through a proper legal process which does not allow discrimination based on religion, race, caste or community. The authorities say that this is an issue to be decided through a dialogue between the two parties or through competent courts. This appears to be a weakness of the state government authorities. Instead of initiating legal action against the protesters, they want the Muslim woman to fight it on her own.

Though what the protesters are doing is a violation of constitutional provisions that allow an Indian citizen to live and settle anywhere in India except in areas prohibited by the government, protesters feel encouraged to oppose a Muslim woman from living in a Hindu neighbourhood perhaps because of an anti-Muslim atmosphere built in the country by leaders belonging to a particular political party, especially in the last 10 years rule of BJP-led NDA government at Centre. Even in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used language of hatred against Muslim minorities in his election campaigns from April 19 to June 1 to polarize Hindu voters in favour of his party candidates. It is a different thing that the Hindu majority understood the game and voted against his party candidates forcing him to take the support of Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal(United) to form the government.

But what Mr Modi and his party colleagues spoke up repeatedly against Muslims certainly had a cumulative effect on the psyche of a section of the majority community, particularly the radical elements attached to the BJP and RSS and that is perhaps responsible for mob violence against Muslims in Chhattisgarh and some other places after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections and now the protest against a Muslim woman government employee who has been allotted a housing unit in a Hindu neighbourhood. Vadodara is the third biggest town of Gujarat, Modi’s home state. Modi was chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 till May 2014 before shifting to Delhi as Prime Minister. It was during his stint that Gujarat witnessed India’s worst communal riot in February-March 2022 in which about 1200 people, mostly Muslims, were killed, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.

What is happening in Vadodara is nothing new. In 2015, Muslims, who were displaced from the upmarket Fatehgunj area, were also denied housing units in government-developed housing societies in Hindi-dominated areas.

After the 1986 communal clashes in Ahmedabad, the then Gujarat government came up with the Disturbed Areas Ordinance to curb the distress sale of houses and properties, particularly in Muslim-dominated areas.

Under the Ordinance, the property owners in the Disturbed Areas could not sell their properties without permission from the district collector. Though the idea was good, it was generally used when a Muslim wanted to buy a property from a Hindu owner in a Muslim-dominated area. The provisions of the ordinance were also used even in Hindu-dominated areas even when it was not part of the Disturbed Area if some Hindu residents opposed the buying of a property by a Muslim. The Ordinance which was converted into a permanent legislation in 1991 and was amended from time to time, has become an obstruction to the spatial extension and growth of Muslims in mixed areas. This has resulted in the growth of Muslim “ghettoes” on the pattern of “Jewish ghettoes” in pre-Christian Europe where Jews were not allowed by law to live in mixed habitations and the only place for them was outside the Walled Cities or the localities of the mainstream European communities. The same culture of “ancient uncivilized” Europeans is being repeated in Gujarat.

Shall we feel proud of this culture of segregation based on religion as was done in pre-Christian Europe with the Jews?

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