The Ghettoisation of Muslims in India
AS per first para of Indian constitution, “We the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, to all its citizens, justice, social, economic and political liberty of thought, expression, belief faith, and worship, equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation hereby adopt enact and give to ourselves this constitution. ”
This covenant is preserved only in black and white form. Equality, tolerance have been neglected, politics of hatred, prejudice and narrow mindedness is at peak.
Minorities are being dubbed as traitors. It’s a well-known fact that this game of religious hatred and sectarianism began right after partition.
Muslims in India have been denied security by the successive governments. Over 40,000 Muslims have been murdered or injured in anti-Muslim riots since Partition.
Despite a Supreme Court stay order, Muslim homes and shops were razed during recent Delhi riots.
The unfortunate Muslim was then forced to march in a joint Hindu-Muslim Taranga (Indian flag) march to demonstrate that all was well with the law and order situation.
The socio-economic marginalization of Muslims was underlined by a seven-member High Level Committee, which was constituted in March 2005 by Manmohan Singh.
Rajinder Sachar, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, led the Committee to investigate the social, economic and educational conditions of Muslims in India.
The Committee suggested, among other things, establishing an Equal Opportunity Commission to offer a legal system for dealing with discrimination allegations, particularly in housing and employment.
Muslims’ living conditions are only marginally better than Hindu Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and significantly poorer than Hindus from other backward castes.
The Sachar Committee discovered that their identifiers, such as their addresses and names, frequently elicit suspicion and discrimination from people and institutions.
Discrimination is persuasive in the workplace, housing and education. Muslim women who cover their heads and faces for religious reasons encounter discrimination.
At the same time, the majority of non-Muslim residents see the Muslim community’s socio-cultural features as the source of its “backwardness.
”The socio-economic status of Indian Muslims, like that of dalits, has deteriorated through time.
The golden words of the Indian Constitution regarding fundamental rights, justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity remain unfulfilled.
The sedition and terrorist rhetoric of the Hindu Parishad leaders and the silence of the government have tarnished the atmosphere of democracy.
Some called Muslims away from patriotism, some advised them to go to Pakistan, some called them terrorists and some said they were a big threat to the country.
From the time of independence till today, those advising to leave have not been able to give anything to the country except the gift of sectarianism, war, violence, hatred, hypocrisy, bloodshed, betrayal and fraud.
In January 2022, news emerged that Muslim men in Uttar Pradesh’s detention centres and jails were being separated along religious lines.
In an interview, former IPS officer turned activist SR Darapuri exposed some of the startling realities.
He was a witness to it when he was imprisoned in Lucknow during the anti-CAA protests.
Another concern is that, while right-wing rulers have found bulldozers to demolish homes, there appears to be no focus on the issue that Muslims have no dwellings.
Muslims are having trouble finding a room on rent. Muslims also spoke about their housing problems in New Delhi.
This is an overview of the situation that has arisen since independence. Many such heartbreaking incidents and incidents are recorded in history.
Muslims will have to be united, otherwise their existence is at stake. Ghettoization is in full swing in India and India-occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
—The writer is senior Lecturer, at DHA Suffa University, Karachi.
