“I opted to rent a house in Noida, it was a renowned society. The owner had no issues in accepting me as the tenant but the society secretary and body members didn’t allow me, a Muslim to live in their society.”
A day after India celebrated its 75th Independence Day, a Muslim woman took to Twitter to share screenshots of text messages she received from potential landlords wherein she was denied a rented apartment due to her religious identity. The screenshot had the broker telling Haifa about the fact that while the property was available to rent, the owners are looking for a Hindu family. Following this, several people took to Twitter in a show of solidarity with Haifa and shared their own experiences of rejection that were bestowed upon them due to their identity.
Arjun Mukherjee, a PhD scholar at Rabindra Bharati University, West Bengal talks about the pressure of conforming to societal norms and prejudices by landowners for creating pure, more gentrified neighbourhoods by Hindu communities, therefore leading to the ghettoization of communities that are then forced to thrive on the margins of the society.
“We are presented with a distinct phenomenon pertaining to housing and accommodation. This whole exercise of systematic segregation limits the cultural interaction between communities, as a result, social prejudices are not challenged, and populous stereotypes are reinforced and reproduced through everyday discourse,” says Mukherjee.
Syed Lareb Alvi, a content specialist living in Delhi says, “I opted to rent a house in Noida, it was a renowned society. The owner was having no issues I opted to rent a house in Noida, it was a renowned society. The owner had no issues in accepting me as the tenant but the society secretary and body members didn’t allow me, a Muslim to live in their society.”
“My reaction was not shocking as I have read stories of people being discriminated against for their religious beliefs in NCR. I was rather in a state of humiliation,” says the 28-year-old content specialist. Adding that ghettoization of Muslims is not a new concept, Alvi states that places like Jmia Nagar, Okhla and Mumbra are situated on the outskirts of the city and are, therefore, inaccessible to live in due to the awful living conditions these places have to offer.
Tanvir Aeijaz, an associate professor at Delhi University, said Muslims don’t want to live in ghettos, as quoted by Times of India.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com . Read the full story here