By Burhan Majid
Discrimination against Muslims in India has reached a crescendo where even fundamental rights like housing have become a battleground for asserting religious dominance and exclusion. The recent case in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, where Hindu residents forced a Muslim couple to vacate their newly purchased home, is far from an isolated incident. Instead, it serves as a stark reminder of the pervasive Islamophobia that plagues Indian society in the current times.
The residents’ brazen claims that they “cannot tolerate a Muslim family living right in front of the local temple” and that it poses a “question of the safety of women” reflects how deeply entrenched the Hindu right’s longstanding project of constructing Muslims as the “other” has become.
Religiously driven spatial segregation – long embedded in India’s rural and urban landscape – is just one facet of this entrenched system of marginalisation. Muslims continue to be vilified as “invaders” through everyday hate and violence.
This story was originally published in thequint.com. Read the full story here.
